


Flowers

by includewomeninthesequel



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ancient Greek Religion & Lore Fusion, BAMF Peggy Carter, BAMF Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), F/M, Inspired by Hades and Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Older Man/Younger Woman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:47:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 42,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25501627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/includewomeninthesequel/pseuds/includewomeninthesequel
Summary: She was light, warmth, andlife.She was everything he wasn’t, and everything that he didn’t know he wanted -needed- until this moment.A Steggy love story inspired by the myth of Hades and Persephone, with more than one twist along the way.
Relationships: Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers
Comments: 69
Kudos: 154





	1. Daffodil (New Beginnings)

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my gosh, this one has been a long time coming! I've had this story in my mind for almost a year, and finally got around to writing it a few months ago. It's nearly completely finished, so that's the other exciting thing happening around here. 
> 
> Some quick things to note about this universe works:  
> \- The Mortal Realm is set in the era of Ancient Greece.  
> \- Meanwhile, the gods are lightyears ahead of them, so imagine an idyllic version of modern day (no capitalism yay). They use technology as a means of easy communication between each other if they don’t want to involve Sam (Hermes), and to help them in their daily work, however, social media does not exist.  
> \- The Big Three and Sam are the only ones who can teleport between Mount Olympus and the Underworld. The travel between those two realms for others is different. Any god can teleport to the Mortal Realm and Olympus, and within Olympus.  
> \- The gods aren't all related by blood. Just the Big Three as is expanded upon in this fic
> 
> Posted for Steggy Week 2020 Day 7: Free Choice

Steve, King of the Underworld and god of the dead, almost never left his kingdom.

It wasn’t that he hated Mount Olympus, it just wasn’t convenient for him to leave the Underworld without sufficient reason. He had a job to do, and unlike his youngest brother, Tony, Steve took his job seriously. Unfortunately for Steve, the work never seemed to be done.

There were souls arriving every day that required his judgement regarding the merit of their lives and subsequent placement in the Underworld, there were the foolish souls whose escape attempts needed thwarting, and then there was the general daily duties that came with the running of the Kingdom - just to name a few things. 

Steve had help, of course. Natasha, goddess of witchcraft and his right hand woman, took care of regularly fortifying the spells that she had created to keep Tartarus impenetrable and inescapable, and she also kept him organized and on track as he worked day-to-day. 

Bucky, god of death and his other counterpart, did most of his work was done outside of the Underworld, though he was always ready to back Steve up whenever he needed it. He would diligently check in once a week to update Steve, though it often turned into a more personal catch up, as Steve always kept himself up to speed with Bucky’s work.

Nonetheless, Steve found the most efficient way to rule over his kingdom was to be consistently present. This way he could deal with any issues that arose firsthand. A lot could happen if his back was turned half the time, and though the Underworld wasn’t his first choice for a Kingdom, he understood the importance of keeping it in order.

After the ten-year war against their father had finally ended, Steve and his younger brothers, Tony and Bruce, had drawn lots to determine who would rule over which realm. Having only one god rule over everything had proven beyond disastrous, and they were all determined not to follow in their father’s footsteps. The others who had fought by their side in the war had been asked to form the Council, which would work at keeping them in check and weighing in on other large-scale decisions.

In the end, Tony drew the best lot, becoming King of the gods and the sky. Bruce became King of the seas.

Steve got stuck ruling over the realm of the dead.

Though he took pride in being able to fairly and swiftly judge the souls who passed through and help the Furies oversee their punishments, it was a gruelling way to live. Steve had quickly learned to completely detach himself from his emotions, a coping mechanism that he had first created when he was swallowed by Thanos millennia ago. 

No matter that he held no hard feelings about the results of the realm lottery, Steve always hated trudging all the way up to Mount Olympus just to hear Tony monologue for hours on end.

In his opinion, Tony cared too much about maintaining his grips over the rest of the gods, always needing to prove he was better, more important. Steve knew his brother had a heart, but he also had a tendency to be egotistical and narcissistic. He had no idea how his wife, Pepper, dealt with it, but he was grateful for her innate ability to keep him in check when no one else could - which was far too often for Steve’s liking. 

For all her abilities to soothe Tony’s ego, however, today’s meeting turned out to be worse than most others, which was a feat in and of itself. It wasn’t often that the Council was able to agree on anything in a time efficient manner. Most times they would spend hours discussing and occasionally arguing things before a consensus was reached. 

Steve himself normally didn’t intervene. The matters they discussed hadn’t involved his realm to date. He only spoke up when someone stepped too far out of line, which happened enough that it constantly grated on his patience, but things would normally come to some form of a resolution soon after.

Today, however, was downright disastrous.

Maybe it was because Pepper and Tony were currently fighting (not that they’d ever say it, but Steve knew them both better than they thought). Or maybe it was because Bruce had been on edge and had been ready to snap from the start. No matter the cause, Tony spent the entire time micromanaging them more than normal and immediately overruling anyone who brought something up that he didn't agree with or just didn’t want to hear. 

This all led to a screaming match between Bruce and Tony, resulting in a lighting storm, water from the nearby fountain flooding the room, and Steve having to reign them all in as nearly everyone else promptly lost their tempers and added to the mix.

When the chaos had relatively subsided, Steve dismissed everyone in turn, telling them that they would meet again after they all had a chance to collect themselves and stop acting like petulant children. After everyone else had gone, he turned to both Tony and Bruce and properly exploded at them for losing their heads so wholly over a relatively inconsequential matter.

Unfortunately, yelling at them did nothing to soothe his own rage, and so he decided to take a walking detour instead of going straight back to the Underworld, knowing he couldn’t return when there was currently a high probability he would take his anger out on undeserving souls. His head was just barely clear enough to understand that it wasn’t fair to damn people for eternity just because his brothers and the Council decided to ruin his day.

However, after two hours of walking Steve was still absolutely livid, and he had ended up on some part of Olympus that he hadn’t ever bothered to visit before. He began to contemplate both the pros and cons of marching over to Tony’s home and throttling him.

That was when he saw her.

Adorned atop of the curls of her brown shoulder-length hair was a calla lily flower crown. Her lips were painted a soft pink, and were turned upward in a soft smile. As she flourished her hands, daffodils began to grow all around her, the sun catching her skin and enhancing her godly glow. Her pastel green floor-length dress flowed in the gentle breeze, revealing her bare feet. The deep pink colour of her toe nails perfectly matched the one on her finger nails. She was humming softly to herself as she continued about conjuring more flowers, taking care to focus on each one until they passed her stamp of approval.

It was as though Steve’s world suddenly came into sharp focus, and everything around him faded until she was the only thing he knew.

She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

Men started wars over women like her.

She was light, warmth, and _life_.

She was everything he wasn’t, and everything that he didn’t know he wanted - _needed_ \- until this moment.

Her head turned in his direction and their eyes met.

Time froze. 

Steve stopped breathing.

Her dark brown eyes sparkled with a delighted curiosity. Despite her angelic appearance, she looked ready to strike if he made one wrong move.

“Are you going to introduce yourself or are you going to continue to rudely stand there staring?”

Steve couldn’t help the way the corners of his mouth twitched in an attempt to form a smile at the sound of her accent. Even with the sharp edge in her tone, her voice was like a melody.

He was a goner, and he didn’t even know her name.

“I was just passing by,” he explained.

“Actually you were just staring,” she quipped, putting her hands on her hips.

Steve’s heart stuttered at her bluntness. He wanted to tell her that anyone with eyes would have stopped where they stood. He wanted to tell her that she had wrapped her hands around his heart with just one look.

“I’m Steve,” he said instead.

“Yes, you’re the god of the Underworld. Though for transparency’s sake, I would’ve known that even without the introduction.” 

Steve frowned slightly, uncertain of what she meant. Noticing his frown, her mouth formed a smirk and her eyes flicked in the direction from where he came. Steve followed her gaze and saw that dead grass followed where his feet had tread on them. His frown grew. 

It wasn’t often that this sort of thing happened. He was normally more in control of hispowers; he had spent centuries schooling and controlling them so that they were never unleashed unconsciously.

Apparently his brothers were all it took to undo all his work nowadays.

“No harm done,” the woman told him.

He looked up at her sharply as she flourished her hands. When he looked back, the dead grass had been replaced with fresh grass. It was as if he had never caused any damage. She hadn’t even batted an eye or given him a disdainful or reproachful look. She had simply accepted it and fixed it. Steve stayed stunned in silence for a few moments.

“Don’t patronize me and pretend it was the grandest thing you’ve ever seen,” she teased him when he remained staring at the undisturbed grass.

He quickly turned back to her.

“No, it was just… unexpected,” he admitted.

“Well I must admit, Steve, god of the Underworld _,_ you’re quite unexpected as well,” she said, looking him up and down.

“What do you mean?” Steve asked curiously.

Instead of answering, her eyes steadily held his gaze, and Steve longed to know her thoughts more than he’d longed for anything else before.

“I’m Margaret, since you’ve yet to ask,” she changed the subject abruptly, extending her hand to him.

He instantly closed the distance between them and accepted her hand. 

Margaret didn’t flinch when her warm skin met the coolness of his own hand. This alone emboldened him enough to kiss her hand in greeting.

The smile that the action elicited from her could have lit up the entire Underworld.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Margaret,” he said much softer than he intended.

“Oh how sweet of you,” she teased, taking her hand back. “Tell me, Steve, do you normally spend your spare time wandering through Mount Olympus and staring at goddesses in their mother’s gardens?”

“Only the beautiful ones,” he promised.

Margaret rolled her eyes.

“You need better lines.”

“They were the only ones left at the acropolis,” he shrugged.

“Well whatever you paid for them, it was far too much.”

“I don’t think they’d give me a refund now that I’ve used them.”

Margaret laughed, and Steve knew he wanted to hear that sound for the rest of eternity. He wanted to be the cause of it.

She eyed him curiously, a smile playing at her lips.

“I thought the great god of the Underworld never left his kingdom.”

“Every now and again I have matters that bring me up to Olympus.”

“Family matters?” she asked knowingly, her tilting her head toward the top Mount Olympus, where Tony lived.

At Steve’s sharp nod, she hummed.

“Tony has always been a handful. I don’t envy that you have to negotiate with him. In fact, I feel sorry for you that he’s your brother.”

“There are worse things.”

She quirked an eyebrow at him.

“I run the Underworld,” he told her. “Tony’s behaviour normally pales in comparison to a lot of the things I’ve seen. Besides, without his and Bruce’s major tantrum, I might not have wandered over here to clear my mind.”

“Does that mean we have Tony and Bruce to thank for our meeting?”

“Fuck no,” Steve said immediately without thought.

He didn’t miss the way a shiver passed through Margaret, or how her eyes lit up. She stepped closer to him, leaving mere inches between them. Slowly, she tilted her chin up, a playful glint in her eyes. He could feel his heart begin to hammer in his chest. 

“What foul language,” she chided. “I might just have to teach you how to properly talk to a woman.”

“Does that mean private lessons?”

“Only if you ask nicely.”

“Are you giving orders to the god of the Underworld?”

“Yes. And it’s in your best interest to follow them.”

“And if I don’t?” he challenged.

Margaret’s eyes sparkled as her mouth quirked up into a smirk, ready to accept his challenge. She moved even closer to him, lifting herself up on the tips of her toes until her lips were right beside his left ear. Steve found himself frozen, though his hands burned (and when had they ever done _that_?) to reach out and touch her.

“Margaret!”

Steve heard a sharp, eerily familiar voice calling loudly from a large distance, interrupting whatever her retaliation would have been. Margaret sighed softly and pulled away just enough so that she was now standing on her feet properly directly in front of him, a frown now tugging at her lips where her radiant smile had just been.

Steve would do anything to get it back. He tried to think of something - anything - to keep her here.

_“Margaret!”_ came the sharp voice again, more annoyed this time.

“I have to go,” she said regretfully.

“Me too,” he murmured, realizing in that moment that he’d been away from the Underworld for far too long.

When neither of them made any effort to leave after a few moments, both of them slowly broke out into grins.

“Don’t be a stranger, Steve,” she told him.

“Is that another order?” he asked, his mouth a whisper away from hers.

“Get used to it.”

Her comment should have angered him. If it had been anyone else it would have. Instead, he found himself thrilled, heart hammering in his chest. 

“You’re really something else, Margaret,” he mused out loud.

“Call me Peggy,” she told him, reaching for his hand and holding it.

Steve was frozen by this action. Peggy’s hand was still as warm and soft as it had been when he first held it. She ran her thumb over his knuckles, and he swore that he could feel her warmth seep into his skin.

Margaret suddenly pulled her hand away. He looked at her with confusion until he realized how brightly she was smiling.

“Until next time, Steve,” she told him in almost a musical lilt.

Without waiting for his reply, Peggy turned on her heel and was gone before he could register what had just happened.

He slowly looked down at the hand she had held mere moments earlier and opened it, finding a lone daffodil in his palm.

A very much _living_ daffodil that didn’t wilt under his touch.

_Until next time_ , Peggy had said.

_Next time indeed_ , he mused to himself.

Steve remained smiling long after he had returned to the Underworld. 


	2. Gladiolus (Strength of Character)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you keeping score at home, here's a list of all the gods that have appeared/will appear in this chapter, as it's not explicitly stated who all of them are:
> 
> Steve - Hades  
> Peggy - Persephone  
> Natasha - Hecate  
> Bucky - Thanatos  
> Amanda - Demeter  
> Tony - Zeus  
> Bruce - Poseidon  
> Sam - Hermes  
> Pepper - Hera  
> Angie - Aphrodite  
> Daniel - Hephaestus   
> Shuri - Athena  
> T’Challa - Ares

“What’s with the flower?”

“Huh?”

Steve snapped his head up to where Natasha was standing in his office. He hadn’t even heard her come in.

“That flower that you’ve been staring at for _at least_ the two minutes I’ve been standing here,” she smirked. 

“I just thought the office needed a little something,” he said evasively, gently setting the daffodil down on his desk.

“Cut the crap, Steve. We’ve known each other for thousands of years and you’ve never bothered to redecorate. Besides, you’d need more than one daffodil to _liven_ this place up,” she said, practically waggling her eyebrows.

Steve rolled his eyes at her terrible pun.

“I’ll be sure to ask for your advice after Sam brings the certificate for your official conversion from the goddess of witchcraft to the goddess of interior design,” he retorted.

“Why don’t you just tell me who she is?”

“Who?”

“Oh come on, Stevie, it’s plain as day. You go to a Council meeting on Olympus, Tony and Bruce royally lose their shit, and I find you back here with a dopey smile and a flower? There’s clearly a step missing. Maybe even several.”

“Don’t you have charms to cast?”

“You mean the same ‘charms’ are that help keep Tartarus in tact?” she asked, her eyebrow raised.

“Whatever charms keep your nose out of my love life.”

“So you admit there is a love life,” she accused gleefully, taking a seat on his desk.

“Nat-”

“I’m not leaving until you tell me,” she told him plainly.

Steve sighed.

“Why are you so obsessed with this? It’s not like I never date women.”

“Actually, you _fuck_ women. Mostly nymphs who only care about your crown.”

Steve glared at her.

“Nat,” he warned in a low voice.

“Look, there’s nothing wrong with that,” she told him, raising her hands in defence. “You’re free to do whatever you want in your spare time. In fact, I think it’s good for you to blow off some steam with whoever you want. Let loose, have fun.”

“Gee, thanks mom,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“But that smile I just saw,” she continued as though he hadn’t spoken. “That’s not because of some nymph you’re fucking.”

“So?”

“So I’d like to know who’s responsible.”

“No chance.”

“What if I promise not to tell Bucky?”

“What are we not telling Bucky?”

Steve clenched his jaw at hearing the voice of the man in question. He’d lost track of time and forgot that Bucky was coming for his weekly check-in.

“It’s nothing,” Steve said a little too quickly.

“You want to try that again?” he asked, grabbing a chair and pulling it closer to him.

“It’s just us,” Nat told Steve.

“Your favourite people,” Bucky added.

Steve frowned when both of them pouted and batted their eyelashes as him in perfect unison.

“You’re both the worst,” he told them.

“Which is _why_ we’re you’re favourite people,” Nat told him, gracefully accepting his comment for the resignation it was.

“So pal, what’s so bad you couldn’t tell me?” Bucky asked.

Steve sighed and gave them each a pointed look before reluctantly starting.

“I took a walk after the big blowout on Olympus to clear my head. And I ran into this woman in a garden. She was growing flowers-”

“A woman?” Bucky asked.

“I knew it!” Nat cheered.

“You knew?” Bucky frowned.

“By a woman, do you mean a nymph or a goddess?” Nat asked Steve instead of acknowledging Bucky.

“A goddess,” Steve clarified, his mind unconsciously wandering back to Peggy’s beautiful glow.

“Anyone we know?” Bucky asked, snapping him back to their current conversation.

“How should I know? You two visit Olympus even less than I do.”

“Tell us her name and we’ll know if we know her,” Nat said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the Underworld.

“Who she is doesn’t matter,” he said defensively.

“Why are you so scared to tell us who she is?” Nat asked teasingly.

“Yeah, we don’t bite. Well, I don’t, but - hey!” Bucky frowned when Nat hit him upside the head.

“I’ll bite _you_ , smartass,” Nat retorted.

“A woman after my own heart,” Bucky winked, causing Nat to roll her eyes and Steve to groan audibly.

“Well go on, Stevie,” he continued. “What about this _beautiful goddess_ growing flowers on Olympus?”

Steve rolled his eyes but continued his story through to the end - while omitting the part about Peggy’s name. Knowing those two, they’d find her within the hour and scare her away before anything else could even hope to happen.

Though Steve wasn’t actually sure what the odds currently were of anything else happening between him and Peggy, he wasn’t ready for it to end before it even started.

“Holy shit,” Bucky said slowly when Steve had finished, a shit-eating on his face.

“What?” he asked.

“You’re half in love with her already,” Bucky exclaimed.

“What? No we just had one conversation-”

“And you look like you’re ready to propose!” Nat laughed, high-fiving Bucky when he raised his hand in her direction.

“ _I’m not going to propose._ ”

“You keep telling yourself that pal,” Bucky said, clapping him on his shoulder. “But seriously. I’m happy that you’re happy.”

“Shut up,” Steve told him.

“We mean it,” Nat added sincerely. “Even though you won’t tell us who she is, it’s almost worth it just to see you this happy for the first time in your long ass life.”

“And if you ever need a _liaison_ between you and your lady, I’m your guy,” Bucky offered.

“You’re always my guy,” Steve pointed out.

“Exactly,” Bucky winked.

“Just as long as you tell me first so I can clear your schedule in advance,” Nat pointed out. “Hell, I can cancel the rest of your meetings for today if you want.”

Steve shook his head as he watched his best friends snicker conspiratorially. However, he couldn’t help but smile ever so slightly. Despite how much they could get on his nerves, he appreciated their honesty. Most beings other than his brothers either feared him or were disgusted by him.

Since he took over the Underworld, Natasha and Bucky had been steadfastly by his side, and treated him like an older brother. Though they teased him mercilessly, he knew that they would have his back through thick and thin.

It meant more to him than they knew.

* * *

Tony summoned the Council back the next day.

To say that Steve was less than thrilled would have been an understatement. After the last meeting, he could have waited at least another year before being forced into the same room as his brothers and the Council.

As he sat next to Bruce, Sam on his other side, Steve listened as the topic shifted to the string of wildfires that had ravaged all of Greece, and had steadily travelled north until Daniel had been able to get them under control and extinguished.

“People are dying every day because of starvation,” Amanda said. “And with every sign of forest, field, and plant life destroyed, there’s nothing to help purify the air, which is making people sick. There’s too much to fix all at once. I need help.”

“That’s what Angie’s for,” Tony said dismissively.

Angie narrowed her eyes at him.

“What the hell do you think I’ve been doing the last two days?” she snapped at him. “Amanda and I are the most powerful fertility goddesses, we’ve employed the help of the forest nymphs, and we’re _still_ in over our heads.”

“We can bring someone else in,” Pepper said, practically glaring at Tony.

“Like who?” Tony challenged her.

“What about Amanda’s daughter?” Pepper offered to the group.

“Amanda’s daughter?” Tony looked at her sceptically.

Steve raised his eyebrow.

He knew that Amanda had a daughter that was a couple of centuries old, but he had yet to ever see her. Not that he’d ever tried.

Quite frankly, Steve had his own problems to deal with in regards to his Kingdom, and he couldn’t care less if he never had the chance to meet someone who shared Amanda’s blood - or personality.

Not that she was a bad person, they had just never seen eye to eye. As she represented life and growth, she had decided to despise everything he was without actually grasping the difference between god of _death_ , which was Bucky’s job, and god of _the dead_ , which was his.

Unfortunately, she was only one of many who shared this opinion. Though it had been a long time since he had given a rat’s ass about anyone who thought this way about him.

“The reason we haven’t already employed her help is that it’s very overwhelming and dangerous down there right now,” Amanda explained. “She is still very young.”

“From what I have seen, she has incredible powers for someone her age,” Shuri said. “I have no doubts she could handle it.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying this whole time,” Angie muttered to herself.

“But-”

“What the hell, it couldn’t hurt,” Tony sighed. “Sam, get the girl, would you?”

“She has a name, you know,” T’Challa told him.

“Yeah yeah,” Tony said offhandedly. “Just hurry, would ya?”

Sam shared an exasperated look with Steve, but stood nonetheless. In a blink of an eye, he was gone. Only a moment later, Sam had returned with Amanda’s daughter in tow.

_Peggy._

Her flower crown was made of gladiolus, and she wore a pastel pink floor-length dress. 

She was still as radiant as the first time Steve had seen her in the garden. He sucked in a sharp breath that thankfully no one seemed to hear.

Looking around the room, Peggy eventually locked eyes with him, and he could have sworn that her eyes lit up when she did. 

It was most likely just a trick of the sun.

“You’ve summoned me, Tony?” she asked in a crisp tone.

“We have a problem, and you might actually be of some help,” he told her.

Though Peggy kept her composure, he could see that she was not pleased by Tony’s condescending tone.

Steve didn’t care of it either, feeling a sharp anger burning in his chest on her behalf.

_That was new_. 

“Do tell,” she said.

Tony proceeded to catch her up on the events of the fires. Peggy listened patiently before nodding once he had finished.

“Of course I’ll help,” she told him. “I’ll take the northernmost region and-”

“No you will not,” Amanda snapped.

“Yes I will,” Peggy told her casually.

Steve’s mouth quirked up in amusement and he settled back into his chair, enjoying where this scene was headed.

“Angela and I have been working together with the nymphs this entire time, and you will join us from where we’ve left off-”

“You and Angie can continue working in tandem while I begin tackling the north,” Peggy persisted. “I’ll take some nymphs to help me.”

“You will join Angela and I-”

“We can meet in the middle,” Peggy attempted to reason. “But it is pertinent that work gets started in the north immediately.”

“We need to go by order that the fires struck,” Amanda told her. “It’s the fair thing to do.”

“Equality is not the same as equity.”

“You’re being unreasonably stubborn about this, Margaret.”

“No, I’m being strategic, mother,” Peggy finally snapped. 

“Do _not_ take that tone with me, young one,” Amanda hissed.

“Tony just said that the northernmost regions affected were only hit a few hours ago, but that is where there is the largest concentrated amount of elderly people and children. The odds are that by the time we get there, most of their most vulnerable population will have already starved or died of air pollution. Now you can continue on, but we need to divide and conquer if we’re going to save the most lives.”

“Look kiddo,” Tony began, clearly trying to seize control of the situation. “Don’t get me wrong, we appreciate your help, but-”

“She’s right.”

Every head in the room turned sharply to look at Steve, stunned by his involvement. He never spoke up unless it was to settle an argument that had gotten wildly out of hand.

Peggy herself was regarding him with growing interest, her head tilted in curiosity. He sat up straight in his chair.

“After hearing everything, Margaret’s plan is the one that is most logical.”

Peggy’s eyes widened slightly in shock while Amanda’s lips pursed slightly.

“Neither of you have the experience to provide an informed enough opinion on this,” Amanda argued.

“You wanted more help, Amanda,” Steve reminded her. “And she just gave you the best way for her to do so. The longer we spend arguing this right now, the less people you can save. I vote we go with Margaret’s strategy.”

Peggy’s mouth slowly turned up into a radiant smile, filling his chest with an inexplicable warmth. He had half a mind to march over there and kiss her. 

Thankfully, before he could do anything stupid, she looked over at Tony.

“Well?” she asked. 

“ _Fine_ ,” Tony conceded reluctantly. “We’ll go with Margaret’s idea.”

Peggy’s entire face lit up, and she looked to Steve, sharing a triumphant smile with him. Steve felt his breath come short at the fiery look in her eyes.

Now he really had an urge to kiss her.

Tony dismissed them all almost immediately afterward, and everyone quickly took their leave. Steve stayed behind, watching as Peggy and Amanda had a quiet but clearly tense discussion. Amanda eventually stormed off, and before he knew it, he was left alone with Peggy. She let out a small sigh before turning to him. 

Almost immediately, the corners of her mouth twitched up into a small smile.

“Up in Olympus twice in just as many days. How ever is the Underworld surviving without you?” she teased him in lieu of a proper greeting.

“Well if they’re down there, they’re already far past the point of surviving,” he quipped.

Peggy laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Thank you, for what you said,” she told him softly.

“I was only being honest,” he shrugged.

“I appreciate it. It’s quite refreshing.”

“You’re quite refreshing.”

Her eyes slightly widened in shock at his words, but Peggy grinned widely at him.

“If I didn’t have millions of acres of nature and wildlife to heal, I’d ask you to stay longer,” she admitted.

Never in his life had anyone managed to make him feel disarmed with just a smile and a few honest words. 

“Even with an Underworld to get back to, I’d say yes without a second thought.”

“After all, I’m sure the chaos will still be there when you get back,” she teased.

Steve raised his eyebrow at her.

“Do you really think I run a chaotic Underworld?” he asked.

“I’d like to say something smart and tease you, but I honestly can’t imagine you running a chaotic Underworld,” she said, only slightly sheepish.

“I’m not sure how to take that,” he said truthfully, causing Peggy to laugh.

“It’s a compliment, believe me,” she promised with a soft smile.

“I guess I’ll have to take your word for it,” he told her.

She bit her lip, as though trying to contain her smile.

“It’s truly wonderful to see you, Steve, but I really have to go,” she told him regretfully.

“I understand,” he nodded. 

For a moment, it looked like Peggy was ready to teleport away to the Mortal Realm. Instead, she paused and took a breath, as though psyching herself up for something.

“When can I see you again?” she asked.

Steve’s jaw almost dropped open at her bluntness, but he found himself smiling.

“Whenever you want,” he told her, voice softer than he intended.

Peggy gave him a blindingly bright grin.

“I’ll send you a message as soon as I’ve cleared up this nasty fire business,” she promised.

“Can’t wait.”

The next second, she was gone, and Steve was left with the same feeling he’d had in his chest from the moment he’d met her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to Darcy as always, for reading my things and then waiting months before I actually end up posting them


	3. Viscaria (Will You Dance With Me?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life is slowly winding down as I go from working two jobs to just one, so I should be posting more frequently starting next week. I do have a lot of this written, but don't want to post it all at once so I don't write myself into a corner accidentally as I finish off the last few chapters here.

Steve hummed to himself as he returned to his office after making his regular rounds from the day. 

It had been three days since he had seen Peggy last, but he’d had trouble thinking of anything else. He looked at the lone daffodil that sat in a vase on his desk.

Unbeknownst to him at the time, Natasha had cast a spell on the flower to preserve it. Though he’d rolled his eyes when he found out, he couldn’t deny the happiness he felt at being able look at it every day.

“Well would you look at that?” Sam said, sneaking up behind him.

Steve, being used to Sam’s abrupt and silent entrances, didn’t even flinch.

“Look at what, Sam?” he asked, turning around to face him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you _hum_ anything in our lives,” Sam elaborated.

“First time for everything,” he shrugged.

“A lot of that going around it seems,” his friend grinned.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means for the first time ever, you got a delivery. From a _very pretty lady_.”

Steve tensed and raised his eyebrow at his friend.

“A very pretty lady?” he echoed, though he knew exactly who Sam was referring to.

No one had ever sent him anything via Sam.

No one had ever sent him anything. At all.

Peggy had promised to get in touch, but it would be another thing all together for her to actually follow through.

“You know the type. Big brown eyes, always has different kind of flower crown in her hair. Drop dead gorgeous, but could probably take both Tony and Bruce in a fight.” 

Steve rolled his eyes, but didn’t deny the description.

“In fact, she might be the fresh face who was at the last Council meeting,” Sam continued dramatically. 

“Alright, Sam, I get it,” Steve warned, though not unkindly.

“Now what _was_ her name again?” he asked, stroking his chin in thought.

“Just give the delivery to me,” Steve frowned.

“Where are your manners?” Sam asked, propping his hands on his hips. “I certainly hope that’s not how you’ve been talking to her.”

Steve’s frowned deepened, and he went to protest when Sam began snickering.

“Come on, man, loosen up,” Sam told him. “At least admit that she’s the one you’ve been all doe-eyed about the last few days. Bucky and Nat told me that you got it bad.”

Steve gave him a hard look.

“Traitors,” he muttered. 

That seemed to be all the answer that Sam needed. He smirked and handed him a small note, containing only a location and a time for tomorrow. Steve’s irritation melted away almost immediately at the sight of the small cursive handwriting. 

“You think that’s sweet, just you wait until you see the accompanying present,” Sam told him knowingly.

Steve tilted his head back up to look at him, eyes furrowed in confusion.

“Present?”

Sam then produced a viscaria flower, and handed it to Steve. 

He held it gingerly in his hand, and couldn't help but crack a small smile at the meaning behind it.

_Will you dance with me?_

“She’s bold,” Steve noted.

“Maybe that’s just what you need,” Sam told him.

Steve didn’t agree with him out loud.

But he didn’t deny it, either.

* * *

Steve walked out of his closet the next day, smoothing down his sweater.

“What do you think of this one, Cerbie?” Steve asked Cerberus, his three-headed dog, who had been laying on the bed watching Steve grapple with what to wear for the last hour.

Cerberus lifted his heads to take a better look, examined the black turtleneck and black jeans, and then tilted his heads to the left.

Steve sighed. This was the fifth outfit he’d tried on for his date with Peggy, and so far none of them had any success - in both his and Cerberus’ opinion. He was running out of time before he had to leave, and it seemed like he should just settle for the outfit he was wearing now.

After all, since when did he care what he wore on dates? Sure, he always made sure to look nice, but he’d never been this thorough.

He huffed loudly.

“It’s hopeless,” he complained, running a hand through his hair.

“Not hopeless, just a little pathetic.”

Steve turned around sharply to find Nat smirking at him from the doorway to his bedroom.

“Are you just going to stand there making fun of me or are you going to help?” he asked flatly.

“I can do both,” she quipped, walking into the room and going straight to his closet. “There’s no reason to change our whole dynamic just because you’re having a fashion crisis.”

“You know, one of these days you might say something that actually hurts my feelings.”

“As if,” she snorted. “Wow, you really need to invest in colour.”

“There’s nothing wrong with black,” he told her, sitting on the bed beside Cerberus and scratching one of his ears.

“No, but a pop of colour every now and again would go a long way in maximizing all the black in your closet.”

“So now you’re also the goddess of fashion?” he teased.

“I have many talents,” she said without batting an eye. “Need I remind you that you’re the one who called me in a panic asking for my help?”

“Actually, you called me about something else entirely and then invited yourself over,” he quipped. 

“Details,” she said dismissively.

“And secondly, some help you are. All you’ve done is make fun of me.”

“I am helping, you’re just wound up because for the first time in forever you’re going out with a girl you really like,” she teased.

“You’re the worst.”

“Thank you,” she said sincerely. “Now, just take a breath and don’t fuck it up, okay? Contrary to popular belief, we like seeing you happy around here.”

“So you can be sweet,” he joked.

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly and went back to his closet, pulling out a different black pair of jeans and a dark grey long sleeve button up shirt.

“Here, wear this. Roll the sleeves to your elbows and you probably won’t overheat in the sun.”

“Thanks, Nat.”

“Alright, go sweep her off her damn feet and don’t come back until at least tomorrow morning. Then maybe I’ll forgive you _and_ Sam for still not telling me who she is.”

“At least Sam has some sense of privacy,” he shot back with a smile.

“Says the man who has me picking out his clothes for his date,” she said, raising her eyebrow at him.

“Touché.”

* * *

Steve arrived at the spot on Olympus Peggy’s note had indicated, hoping that he had gotten the place right. It was close to the outskirts, and hidden completely from sight. He had to walk through a wall of hanging leaves and vines just to find it. However, when he passed through to the other side, he was faced with the most beautiful piece of landscape.

It was a large field of the lushest grass he’d ever seen. There was a river to his right that flowed farther than the eye could see. To his left, there were an array of trees and bushes. All around the field and along the river, there were what looked to be thousands of different types of flowers growing. 

Peggy was standing just a few feet away beside one of the larger apple trees, her lips pursed in concentration as she conjured up a few bergamot flowers around it. Steve decided to blend into the shadows, wanting to take the opportunity to admire her while remaining unnoticed.

She was wearing a short sleeved yellow dress that was form-fitting until it flared out at her waist. Unlike the other two dresses he’d seen on her, this one stopped right above her knees, revealing the most of her sun-kissed skin that he’d yet to see. Her flower crown was made of the same bergamot flowers she was adorning the tree with. Her lips were painted scarlet red, and she had changed her nail and toe colour to match. 

In front of the apple tree she was decorating, there was a large blanket laid out with a whicker basket sitting on top of it.

“I see you’re making a habit of the staring,” Peggy said, turning around to face his general direction.

He frowned. When he used his ability to become part of the shadows, he became invisible. It shouldn’t have been possible for her to have seen him.

“How did you know I was here?” he asked, but remained hidden.

“The earth betrays your presence,” she explained simply. “Now are you going to let me see you or am I having a date with a disembodied voice?”

Steve couldn’t help but smile. He allowed himself to be seen by her. 

Peggy smiled appreciatively, giving him a thorough undressing with her eyes.

“Much better,” she murmured.

Steve made a mental note to thank Nat later.

“Well hello to you too,” he smirked.

She beamed, though her cheeks were now a soft shade of pink.

“Hello Steve,” she said softly.

“It’s lovely here.”

“Thank you, I created it,” she told him, motioning for him to join her.

“You did?” he asked as he made his way over to the blanket.

“The river was already here, but I grew the rest. It’s not much, but it’s something to call my own.”

“It’s incredible.”

“Thank you, Steve,” she smiled. “Now please, sit. I made sure to choose a spot with plenty of shade for you.”

Steve grinned and sat down on the blanket, and Peggy followed his lead, placing herself so their knees were almost touching.

“This is cozy,” he noted.

“I do my best,” she winked before beginning to unpack the basket she brought. “Ambrosia wine?”

“Are we celebrating something?” he wondered aloud, quirking his eyebrow up in amusement.

“Have you seriously only ever had ambrosia wine on special occasions?” she asked incredulously as she began pouring.

“I prefer scotch when it comes to casual drinking,” he shrugged.

“You’re such an old man,” Peggy teased, offering him a glass. “Trust me, I’m going to change your life.”

Steve raised his eyebrow curiously at her, but accepted the glass. She clinked their glasses together, and watched him closely as he took a sip. Steve’s eyes widened as the sweet liquid met his tongue, and he couldn’t help the hum that escaped him.

“Well?” she asked, a knowing lilt to her voice.

“This is the best ambrosia wine I’ve ever had,” he said. “Where did you get this?”

“Friends in high places,” she told him conspiratorially, a large grin of her face.

Clearly pleased, Peggy took a sip of her own wine before handing Steve her glass to hold. She then brought out an impressive array of fruits, cheeses and crackers, and set them out on the blanket.

“Please enjoy,” she said proudly, taking her glass back.

“You did all this for me?” he asked, bewildered by all the work she had put into this lunch.

“Too much?” she asked, a flicker of self-consciousness showing for the first time since he’d met her.

“It’s perfect,” he said quickly, reaching out to take her hand in his. “You’re amazing.”

Peggy’s face lit up in a grin, and her cheeks flushed a pale shade of pink when he kissed her knuckles.

As the afternoon wore on, Steve found himself more and more enthralled by Peggy. She had sharp wit, and plenty of strong opinions that she wasn’t afraid to share with him. After millennia of having most others either be too fearful to disagree with him, or completely dismiss his opinions, it was refreshing to have someone new to banter back and forth with for hours without the conversation ever becoming forced or stilted.

He especially got a thrill out of each smile and laugh he elicited from her, and he was absolutely delighted when he made a joke that caused her to snort.

At some point Peggy ended up lying on her back with her head in his lap, eyes closed. It surprised him how at ease she was with him after having spent so little time together - and how he felt the same about her. 

The familiarity that he felt with her allowed him to give into the temptation to play with her hair. He watched her face closely, entranced by the sight of her as a few extra bergamot flowers bloomed in her hair.

“Can I ask you something?” he said, glancing at her feet.

“Go ahead,” she replied, opening her eyes to look up at him.

“Why don’t you wear shoes?”

“I can’t connect with the earth if I do. I mean, it doesn’t affect my powers, but it makes me feel more in tune to its needs if I don’t. There’s a connection that I can’t quite explain.”

“That’s how you were able to tell I was there earlier even though I was hidden,” he realized.

“Exactly.”

Steve hummed thoughtfully.

“Why do you wear shoes?” she asked teasingly.

“Makes it easier to kick Tony’s ass.”

Peggy laughed, scrunching up her nose. Steve committed the image to memory.

“Now that’s something I’d like to see,” she said.

He grinned but his reply was interrupted by the sound of music drifting toward them. Peggy immediately sat up, and Steve craned his neck to figure out where it was coming from.

“I think it’s the water nymphs from down the river,” Peggy said. “They’re quite musical.”

“It’s pretty music,” he agreed.

“Do you dance, Steve?” she asked, looking at him with clear intent in her eyes.

“I don’t,” he said honestly, curious as to how she’d react.

She frowned.

“Well that certainly won’t do.”

“I just don’t dance,” he shrugged.

“But surely you must have danced?”

“Not in a long time.”

Peggy looked out in the direction of the music for a moment before standing and extending her hand to him.

“What do you say?” she asked. “Will you dance with me?”

Steve hesitated for the slightest moment, which didn’t go unnoticed by Peggy.

“Technically you already agreed when you accepted my flower,” she reminded him.

“You’re relentless,” he told her, unable to hide the slight hint of fondness in his voice.

“You like it,” she quipped with a smirk.

_I like you_ , he couldn’t help but think.

Steve stood and accepted her hand. He instinctively pulled her close and placed his other hand on the small of her back. Peggy’s breath hitched, but she placed her hand that wasn’t being held in his on Steve’s shoulder.

The melody picked up and he began leading her in a waltz. They moved together with ease, 

“I thought you said you couldn’t dance,” she inquired.

“I said I didn’t dance. I never said I couldn’t,” he corrected, not being able to help feeling smug about how impressed she sounded.

“Well you’re quite good,” she told him with a smile. “Why don’t you dance more often?”

“I never much of a reason to before,” he shrugged.

“What were you waiting for?”

“The right partner.”

She looked up at him with soft, warm eyes. For a second, he thought her eyes flicked down to his lips, but they were back on his so quickly he knew it must’ve been his imagination. Still, he leaned down and rested his forehead against hers. He couldn’t tell how long they stayed that way, their noses side by side, mouths close enough that it would hardly take any effort to close the distance between them. The music around them faded, but Steve didn’t want to let go. 

It seemed like Peggy didn’t either. 

“Steve?” she asked softly.

“Yes, Peggy?”

“What’s it going to take to get you to kiss me?”

Steve’s eyes widened and he pulled back slightly to get a good look at Peggy’s face. She raised her eyebrow at him expectantly, and Steve broke out into a grin. 

_Bold, indeed._

He leaned down again, his lips only a whisper’s away from hers.

“Peggy, we got a - oh _damn_ -”

They both startled apart, though Steve kept his arm around Peggy’s waist as he looked at the offending presence. 

Sam was now suddenly standing only a few feet from them, his mouth slightly agape in shock and amusement as he stared at them.

Steve glared at him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked Sam irritatedly.

“Amanda is summoning Peggy to her home,” he answered regretfully. “And she’s upset that Peggy hasn't been answering her phone.”

“Tell her I’m preoccupied,” Peggy said with a frown.

“Doing what? Locking lips with the King of the Underworld?” Sam said dubiously. “Because that would end well.”

“Make something up,” Steve told him.

“Look, I’ve already stalled as long as I can,” Sam explained. “She wants to follow up on the wildlife restoration in the Mortal Realm and won’t take no for an answer. If I don’t come back with you in the next thirty seconds, she’ll come looking for you herself.”

Peggy’s shoulders deflated and she looked up at Steve.

“I’m sorry,” she told him.

His heart ached at the sadness in her eyes. Steve took her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her head up before kissing the corner of her mouth.

“Don’t be,” he murmured reassuringly. “I’ll see you later, my goddess.”

“The second I’m free,” she promised him with a whisper, her lips twitching upward.

Peggy reluctantly took a step back from him before teleporting away. Steve let out a small sigh.

He looked over at Sam, who was still standing next to him with a shit-eating grin on his face, arms crossed against his chest.

“You couldn’t have waited ten more seconds, could you?” Steve asked flatly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally, I've always imagined Cerberus to be a black pitbull.
> 
> If you want to talk about this fic or any others (or even if you just want to say hi), you can get me at [my tumblr account here](https://womenarethesequel.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Yesterday I posted a little headcanon for [how Peggy could have changed the events of Infinity War.](https://womenarethesequel.tumblr.com/post/627642148903321600/peggy-carter-saves-infinity-war)
> 
> Until next time, friends!


	4. Coriander (Lust)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming back strong (and late) with a rating change this chapter! The chapter title gives you a good idea why ;)
> 
> The only new character mentioned in this chapter is Clint, who is Apollo.

It was another few hours before Steve heard any whisper from Peggy, though the message didn’t arrive from the woman herself. He was out on his nightly walk with Cerberus when Sam arrived, easily falling into step on the other side of his three-headed dog and scratching his fur.

“Did you really come down here just to give my dog attention?” Steve asked amusedly when Cerberus halted walking immediately to beg for even more affection from Sam.

“Since when do I need an excuse to pet your dog?” he said, his voice now nearly cooing as he gave Cerberus the attention he desired.

Steve raised his eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. If there was anyone in the cosmos who loved Cerberus almost as much as Steve did, it was Sam.

“I’m here on behalf of your girl,” Sam told him after he’d devoted a few moments solely to Cerberus.

Steve gave him a deadpan expression, but couldn’t help the pleasing warmth, the slight possessiveness that bloomed in his chest at having Sam refer to Peggy as _his_ girl.

“What did she say?” he asked, trying to keep his tone neutral.

“Peggy wanted me to tell you that she’s sorry, but she’s being forced to deal with Amanda all night.”

“Oh,” he frowned.

While Steve had figured that it was unlikely that they’d be able to continue their date tonight, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed at not being able to see her.

“If it’s any consolation, she said she’d much rather be with you,” Sam said.

The corners of Steve’s mouth twitched up. 

“You know how Amanda gets,” Sam continued. “Always blowing everything out of proportion. Angie’s stuck there too. Add one more fertility goddess, a few forest nymphs and it’ll be a true party.”

Steve snorted.

“Can anything be constituted as a party if Amanda’s there?”

“No, but between Angie and Peggy they can more than make up for that fact,” Sam smirked.

“And you know this how?” Steve asked.

“You think your girl’s a firecracker, you haven’t seen her and Angie in the same room together for more than five minutes,” Sam said amusedly.

Steve regarded his friend for a moment.

“So where is this not-a-party happening right now?” he asked curiously.

“Amanda’s house,” Sam answered before pausing to consider his question. “Oh hell no.”

“What?” he asked innocently.

“You’re going to visit her right now, aren’t you?” Sam asked, a knowing look in his eyes.

“If I don’t answer that, then you’ll have plausible deniability,” Steve told his friend as he clapped him on the back, unable to help the smile that formed on his face. 

Sam scoffed.

“I don’t know where you’ve been, but I am way past plausible deniability.”

* * *

Steve landed just outside Amanda’s garden, immediately using his powers to become one with the shadows. It was the same spot where he had seen Peggy for the first time.

Smiling to himself, he carefully crept into the garden up to the lit up window.

From his vantage point, he could see through the kitchen to where three celestial figures were seated in the living room. Angie was in an arm chair, rolling her eyes as Amanda - who was all but obstructed from his view - made some comment or another. Beside Angie, was Peggy. She was as radiant as ever, though boredom was written across her features.

Her head suddenly perked up slightly, her face showing the faintest signs of confusion. 

Steve smirked knowingly, watching as her eyes darted toward the window.

“Is everything alright, Margaret?” Amanda asked.

“Yes, of course,” Peggy said, snapping her head back to look at her mother. “I think I’d just like some fresh air is all. We’ve been at this for a while.”

“I could use a break too,” Angie agreed immediately, standing and crossing into some other unseen space in the house before Amanda could disagree. “Great thinking, Peg.”

“Oh alright,” Amanda huffed, and Peggy quickly walked through the kitchen and out the back door, stopping only a few feet away from him.

She took a moment to look around before settling her gaze so that she met his eyes - not that she could actually see him.

“Either all my wishful thinking has made me mad, or you’re actually here,” she whispered.

“You’re not mad,” he grinned. “But it’s nice to know I’m not the only one thinking about where we left off.”

Peggy’s face lit up, her smile unknowingly matching his.

“What are you doing here?”

“You couldn’t escape, but I could,” he shrugged.

“So you decided to visit me in potentially the most dangerous place possible?” she asked incredulously.

“As the King of Underworld and overseer of Tartarus, I take personal offence to that,” he scoffed.

“You know what I mean,” she told him, giving him a significant look.

“I wanted to see you,” he admitted.

“Yes, well I wish I could see you,” she said wistfully.

“You can feel me,” he told her, his voice softer than he intended. “When I’m only shadows, you can still feel me.”

He closed the distance between them, and just as he’d expected, Peggy was able to track his movements, lifting her head accordingly so that she could still “look” at his face. 

“I want to continue our date,” he said. “Tomorrow.”

When she rewarded him with a bright smile, Steve was extremely aware of his heart pounding in his chest.

“Meet me in the field, then. Same time as today,” she told him.

“Another command,” he said fondly.

“One I hope you’ll listen to,” she teased.

“I will,” he answered, grinning down at her.

Peggy lifted herself to her tip toes and pressed a kiss to where his left cheek would have been had he been in his corporeal form. Though he couldn’t feel it, his breath still hitched.

“Don’t be late, your Majesty,” she ordered.

“I wouldn’t dare, my goddess.”

* * *

True to his word, Steve arrived promptly in the field the next day. Peggy was already there, ready and waiting for him. Her sleeveless, knee-length soft pink dress was flowing in the wind. 

“Steve!” she grinned when he appeared.

He grinned back as she rushed to him. In an instant he found himself with Peggy in his arms, and Steve took the opportunity to lift her off her feet and spin her around. Her laughter filled his ears, and he held on for just a moment longer before setting her down.

“Miss me, my goddess?” he asked knowingly, his thumbs stroking her hipbones.

“You’re the one who wouldn’t let me see you last night,” she quipped.

“We would’ve been caught,” he reminded her.

“And yet you still came,” she said, her voice softer now. “All to see me for only a few moments.”

“I’ll take any chance I have to see you,” he told her honestly. “No matter how much or how little time we have.”

The top of Peggy’s cheeks flushed a pretty shade of pink, but she grinned up at him.

“I’ll hold you to that, your Majesty. After all, it seems that someone should be keeping _you_ company,” Peggy teased.

“Are you volunteering?”

“If I must,” she sighed dramatically, winking at him.

Steve grinned.

He was doing that a lot lately.

“Now where were we before we were so _rudely_ interrupted yesterday?” Peggy asked, peering up at him through her lashes.

Steve smirked and grabbed her hand, spinning her before pulling her flush against him. She let out a small squeal and laughed jubilantly as he began leading her in a fast-paced waltz, even with no music around them.

“Seems like someone missed me too,” she teased, eyes sparkling.

“I was never trying to hide that, my goddess.”

Peggy smiled mischievously at him.

“You know,” she said innocently. “Now that I think about it, this isn’t quite where we were.”

“That so?” he asked knowingly.

Peggy reached up to cup his face, effectively slowing their waltz down to a full stop. Steve’s hands instinctively went to hold her hips.

“I think we were about here, actually,” she told him.

Steve smirked and allowed her to pull him down to meet her. Their lips finally met properly, and Peggy immediately melted against him. He couldn’t help the small moan that left his mouth at the feel of their joined lips, her body pressed against his, her curves in his hands as he squeezed her hips.

Peggy pulled away all too soon for his liking, and he chased her lips, muffling her breathy giggle with his mouth. He held her closer, teasing his tongue into her mouth.

By the time she tilted her head away from his a second time, they were both breathless enough that he allowed them a few moments to recover. Though truthfully Steve was certain that he was in far too deep to ever truly recover from Peggy.

He didn’t ever want to.

Steve nipped her bottom lip playfully.

“Your lipstick’s still perfect,” he murmured. “How?”

Peggy laughed softly and returned the favour.

“A lady never tells.”

“Will the lady give me another kiss then?” he requested.

She grinned salaciously at him and brushed her lips against his.

“As many as you want,” she whispered.

“My pleasure,” he murmured, crashing their lips together again.

* * *

They spent the next while trading kisses in-between words underneath the apple tree where they’d had their picnic the day before. Steve’s back rested against the tree, one arm wrapped around Peggy, who had comfortably seated herself on his lap. His other hand traced her jaw, her curves, her legs, practically any part of her that he could reach.

It had been a long time since Steve had gotten properly drunk, and though he hadn’t had anything, he felt drunk on Peggy. The way her body perfectly fit against his, her hands tangled in his hair, and the different ways she kissed him, changing from soft and exploratory one moment to heated and possessive the next.

“Darling, what time is it?” she murmured eventually.

He grinned at the new pet name, and tucked a curl behind her ear.

“Almost nightfall, why?”

“You’ve seen the sky change in Olympus, yes?”

“I did a few times back when I was a kid, before everything with… But that was a long time ago.”

She stroked his cheek with the back of her hand and smiled softly.

“This is my favourite place on Olympus to watch it from. Particularly this tree,” she told him. “If you’re interested, that is.”

If he was being honest, Steve was interested in anything that meant he got to keep holding Peggy like this.

“Okay,” he told her, capturing her lips one last time before they turned their attention to the sky.

Together they watched in silence as Clint flew across the horizon. Behind him, the dark, star-filled night sky followed, enveloping the bright blue, pink, and orange hues of the day and taking their place. 

Steve could hardly remember the last time he had witnessed this, let alone appreciated it. He had to admit that he’d forgotten how beautiful the changing sky could be, how peaceful and awed it made him feel.

“Isn’t it the most gorgeous thing you’ve ever seen?” Peggy asked in a hushed voice.

Steve looked at her, taking in her soft smile, enchanted eyes, and the way the godly glow of her skin was slowly becoming more prominent against the darkening sky.

All of the stars in the cosmos combined had nothing on her.

“It really is,” he agreed.

Peggy looked at him and grinned slowly in realization.

“My, what a terrible flirt you are,” she teased.

“And here I’ve been thinking that I was a good flirt,” he quipped.

Peggy chuckled and brought her hand up to his cheek, pulling him in for a kiss. 

“Looks like I’m not so bad,” he murmured when she pulled away. 

“Not at all,” she agreed.

One of her dress straps fell off her shoulder as she lowered her hand from his face to his shoulder, and Steve kissed his way from her jaw, and down her neck to her newly exposed skin. Peggy sighed softly, her eyes fluttering shut at the contact. That alone was more than enough to make Steve’s fingers itch to properly remove her clothes and explore every inch of her.

But he would never push her for anything she wasn’t ready for, or didn’t want to do.

He replaced her dress strap carefully, smoothing it over with his thumb.

When he looked back at Peggy’s face, he noticed that she was regarding him intensely.

“What is it?” he asked.

Her mouth slowly grew into a soft smile.

“There’s so much more to you, so much more _good_ than anyone gives you credit for.”

Steve tilted his head curiously.

“You want to elaborate?”

“No,” she told him cheekily. “But I would like something else.”

“And what is that, my goddess?” he asked, smiling at her.

Peggy leaned in until her nose brushed against his.

“I want _you_ , your Majesty,” she whispered. “All of you.”

To emphasize her point, she slowly began undoing his tie, keeping eye contact with him the entire time.

“You’re sure?” he said quietly, glad that he didn’t sound as breathless as he felt.

She grinned wolfishly at him and nodded, stalling her hands to await his reply.

“More than sure,” she promised.

“Then who am I to deny such a beautiful goddess?” he whispered.

Peggy’s reply - which, by the look on her face promised to hold one of her trademark sassy quips - was muffled by him pressing his lips against hers.

Steve deepened the kiss and tangled a hand in her hair. She let out a soft moan when their tongues met, and began pushing his jacket off his shoulders once she’d tossed his undone tie aside. He helped her take the jacket off properly, never separating his mouth from hers.

When he gently laid her back on the grass, she pulled him down so he was fully on top of her. Steve tried to shift some of his weight off her, but she wrapped her legs around him tightly, keeping him firmly in place. 

“Don’t you dare,” she gasped, giving him a hungry look and rolling her hips against his.

Steve groaned and gave her a wicked smile.

“Have I told you that you’re the perfect woman?”

“I could stand to hear it more,” she teased breathlessly.

Steve grinned and began kissing his way along her jaw and down her neck, pausing along the way to nip and suck her skin. Peggy tugged on his hair to bring him back up to her mouth, and together they made short work of his shirt, throwing it aside with the rest of his clothes.

Peggy gasped softly, her hands freezing. Without her saying so, he knew that she was staring at his scars.

Steve had gotten them from his father. Between being swallowed by him, spending decades in his stomach, and the Ten Year War that followed, he now had a slew of long, thin, golden scars that covered his upper body and biceps.

While Steve himself wasn’t ashamed or embarrassed of his scars, no one had ever found them particularly attractive, and he even had a few one night stands turn their noses up at the sight of them.

Despite his previous experience, his heart still stung at the way Peggy’s jaw was slightly agape as she took him in, and he abruptly sat up, looking away from her.

She followed immediately, kneeling in front of him.

“You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen,” she told him bluntly.

“What?” he asked incredulously, looking back up at her.

Peggy gave him a soft smile.

“You’re gorgeous, my darling.”

Steve frowned.

“My scars-”

“Are stunning,” she said with conviction.

Steve searched her eyes for any hint that she was lying or placating him like everyone else he had ever taken to bed. 

But he didn’t find any trace of distaste.

If anything, she was looking at him like she was simultaneously ready to both hold and devour him.

Peggy reached her hand out and placed it over his heart.

“Trust me?” she whispered.

Steve found himself nodding slowly.

Peggy smiled warmly, and pressed her lips to his. She waited until he had relaxed to press both hands against his chest so that he would lay back, and straddled his hips. After giving him another soft kiss, Peggy traced her lips over the scar closest to his neck. Her touch was reverent, as though she was worshipping every inch of his damaged skin as her lips trailed from one scar to the next.

Steve placed his hand on the back of her neck and sighed, allowing his eyes to close. It was a strange feeling to have someone be so gentle and take their time with him like Peggy currently was. It was stranger to think that she wasn’t doing this because she felt obligated to. He could feel her desire behind the brush of her lips on his marred skin. 

With each kiss, Steve felt every last lingering reservation fade, and he surrendered himself to her touch.

After she kissed every inch of every scar, Peggy returned so that her face was hovering over his. He opened his eyes and found her smiling at him. 

“Hi,” she whispered. 

“Hi,” he murmured, smiling softly as she nuzzled her nose against his.

It all felt so intimate - and not because he was half naked and she’d just had her mouth on just about every part of his upper body. It was intimate because Peggy was treating him with genuine care, and as hard as he tried, Steve couldn’t remember the last time anyone had done that for him.

He tilted his head up, catching her bottom lip in his teeth. She shivered above him and tilted her head to kiss him properly. Without separating himself from her, Steve reached for the ends of her dress, his hands caressing her curves along the way. With her assistance, he pulled it over her head.

“You’re perfect,” he murmured, his eyes hungrily taking her in.

In a flurry of movements that he himself could hardly follow, they’d discarded the rest of their clothes. Steve flipped them over so that Peggy laid beneath him, and began exploring her satin smooth skin with his hands and mouth, revelling in the small noises that he elicited from her. He didn’t stop his explorations until he made his way all the way down to her ankles and back up where she wanted him most.

He took his time teasing her, learning exactly what she liked, what combination of his mouth and fingers induced the biggest reaction out of her. Steve didn’t let up until her small whimpers turned into loud, breathy moans, her fingernails digging into his scalp as he brought her over the edge once, twice, and then a third time in rapid succession. 

Steve finally pulled away and took in the sight before him as he sucked his fingers clean. Despite her still perfect lipstick, Peggy looked absolutely debauched. Her eyes were closed, and she was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, a lazy smile playing at her lips as her chest heaved with large breaths. 

All because of him.

He went to speak when he realized that all around her and in her flared out hair, there were now red roses - both petals and fully formed flowers.

“Roses?” he asked.

Peggy’s cheeks flushed more than they currently were as she opened her eyes and looked around.

“I normally have more control over that,” she murmured self-consciously.

Steve’s eyes widened slowly in realization, and a large grin crept onto his face. He crawled up her body and kissed her properly. Peggy moaned at the taste of herself on his lips, and she cupped his face in her hands.

“I like it when you lose control,” he whispered.

Peggy shivered and wrapped her legs around his hips and rubbed herself against him. Steve moaned loudly at the friction, dropping his head to her shoulder. He’d been so focused on Peggy’s pleasure he’d momentarily forgotten about his own. Steve groaned as she continued to move against him until he’d had enough teasing. 

In one fluid motion, he lined himself up and entered her completely. Peggy cried out and dug her nails into his shoulders, clutching onto him.

Breathing heavily, he leaned his forehead to rest against hers.

“Are you alright?” he whispered.

“I’d be better if you moved,” she retorted, though her voice sounded wrecked already.

He bit her bottom lip possessively.

“As you wish, my goddess.”

Without any further hesitation he did as was asked, setting a relentless pace as he joined their bodies over and over again.

Steve couldn’t remember the last time that sex felt this good. Peggy was overwhelming every part of him, and he couldn’t get enough. He breathed hotly against her skin, his desire for her spilling from his lips every time she cried out _harder_ and _please_ and _Steve_ , his fingers circling against her pearl.

It wasn’t long before Peggy was coming undone once more, this time around him and it was all he could take. Steve thrusted a few more times, clutching her to him as he finally followed her into bliss.

As his head cleared, he was vaguely aware of Peggy lifting her head and nuzzling their noses together. Steve gave her a lazy smile and kissed her languidly before pulling out. He arranged them so he was on his back, her laying on top of him. They both lay together for a few minutes with only the sound of their laboured breathing between them, enjoying the feel of the other in their arms.

“Not bad, your Majesty,” she teased eventually, nuzzling her nose into his neck. 

“ _Not bad?”_ he asked incredulously, raising his eyebrow and reaching over to pick one of the newly bloomed red roses out of her hair.

Peggy giggled and smiled up at him.

“I do enjoy how easy you are to tease, darling.”

“That wasn’t the only thing you’ve enjoyed today,” he quipped, brushing the rose along her spine.

“I wasn’t trying to hide that,” she shivered, her voice low. “And I’m not trying to hide that I want it to happen again.”

“Now? Already?” he asked, eyes wide, but he couldn’t deny the effect her words were having on him.

“It’s as good a time as any,” she shrugged. “But if you’re tired you can rest while I do it myself and-”

Peggy let out a squeal as Steve flipped her onto her back, hovering over her.

“Don’t you dare,” he told her, his mouth just a breath away from hers.

After they had each reached ecstasy again (Peggy twice over), their sated bodies curled together in a heap of sweat. Peggy shivered in the cool night air, and before Steve could even think about using his discarded jacket to cover her, a blanket weaved of soft grass and flower petals was wrapped around them. He raised his eyebrow amusedly at her.

“Don’t look so surprised,” she teased. “Some of us are used to warmth.”

Steve didn’t say it out loud, but as Peggy kissed his collarbone, he thought he could get used to this warmth, too.

They spent the next few hours whispering softly to each other in the darkness. Peggy revealed to him just how strained her relationship with her mother had become - increasingly so over the last few decades - and how she was sick and tired of always being dismissed or not taken seriously because she was only 200 years old. 

Steve talked about his father, the Ten Year War against him and the Titans, and the inevitable hardships that had haunted him after those events.

He couldn’t recall the last time that he’d spoken to anyone about the things he disclosed to Peggy. His first instinct when he’d finished talking was to pull away, build back the wall that he had unwittingly let her begin to break open. 

But Peggy didn’t let him. She received everything he gave her with understanding eyes and gentle hands, and Steve found himself filled with a lightness that he hadn’t felt since before he was swallowed. 

At some point he had to have fallen asleep, because Steve was woken by the first rays of the sun tickling his eyelids. He frowned and groaned softly, but when he went to stretch, he found himself unable to move. Looking down, he saw that Peggy had an arm and a leg draped securely over him, her head nestled under his chin. His mouth slowly formed a grin, and he pressed his lips to her hair.

She made the softest noise he’d ever heard, and he instinctively held her tighter against him.

“Rise and shine, my goddess,” he said quietly as Peggy stirred, snuggling closer to him.

“Do you really expect me to be able to move after last night?” she murmured, her voice hoarse from sleep.

“You started it,” he reminded her fondly. “And believe me, I have plenty of ruining left to do, my goddess.”

Peggy shivered, and she lifted her head to look at him.

“You’re not the only one,” she whispered. 

Steve smiled and kissed her slowly, rolling them over so that he was laying on top of her. Peggy went willingly, a serene smile on her face as he began kissing his way down her neck.

Much later, after Steve had properly greeted her for the morning - and Peggy had returned the favour - she slowly began detangling herself from him.

“Hey, where are you going?” he pouted.

“I don’t want any wandering nymphs to see me naked, do you?”

“Guess not,” he said, but made no effort to move.

Instead, he leaned onto one elbow and watched Peggy with dark eyes as she slipped on her clothes from last night. When she was done, she walked back to him and leaned over him. She kissed him softly.

“Rise and shine, your Majesty,” she whispered, her mouth still a whisper’s away from his.

Steve shivered and smiled lazily.

“Only if you’ll always wake me up like this,” he answered in a low voice.

“If you behave,” she promised, lips ghosting over his.

Peggy grinned wolfishly at him and pulled away abruptly.

“Now come along,” she told him primly, swatting away his hands as he reached for her. “I’d hate for you to miss work because of me.”

While Steve didn’t particularly care in this moment if he made it back to the Underworld at all today, he got up, feeling her eyes on him the entire time he got dressed. 

Wanting to stretch out his time with Peggy, he walked her back home, which was thankfully just far enough from everything else on Olympus that they didn't need to worry about being seen. 

Their entwined hands swung between them. Peggy’s laugh rang through the morning air as Steve recounted stories about his brothers from their first few decades ruling over the Realms. She in turn offered a few stories from her and Angie’s more exciting adventures.

They reached Peggy’s home all too soon, much to both their disappointment.

Peggy moved her free hand up and placed it over his heart, a silent reminder of her promise from the night before. She stepped onto the tips of her toes and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek, though Steve knew it wouldn’t leave a mark either way. Steve held Peggy’s hand to his heart and smiled as she lowered herself back down. 

“I’ll see you soon, my goddess,” he promised.

“Don’t keep me waiting long, your Majesty,” she told him with a grin before ducking inside her house.

* * *

Steve was in far too good a mood to care about Natasha’s smug smirk when he made his way to the office shortly after 10am - over three hours later than normal. He humbly accepted the proffered coffee from her hand, and walked into his office without a word. 

Almost immediately, Steve noticed a note on his desk. Putting down his coffee, he grabbed the note and opened it.

Inside it was a bold scarlet red lipstick kiss mark.

Below that in small round calligraphy:

_I owe you at least one._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: Steve's scars are gold and not pink/red because Greek gods (and other immortals) have what's called Ichor flowing through their veins, which is golden in colour.


	5. Orange Rose (Passion & Desire)

It was apt to say that over the course of the 2,007 years that Steve had been alive, most of Steve’s romantic entanglements had been short-lived, and even the longer ones had hardly made a lasting impact. 

Steve wasn’t a fool. He knew that most beings thought of him as the evil of the cosmos personified. Even if they didn’t think that, in hindsight he knew that a lot of the people he had been with had cared more about his power, about the weight his crown held than about him as a person. It only took so many disappointments before he decided that it was easier to focus on his work and entertain the occasional one night stand rather than attempt to look for and maintain any relationship. 

He had convinced himself he was happy that way. After all, it wasn’t like he was lonely by any means. Steve had Natasha, Bucky, Sam, and - when they weren’t being complete morons - he also had his brothers.

Peggy, however, had a knack for throwing a wrench in his well-laid plans. 

Just like with her approach to everything else in life, the spring goddess was anything but subtle when it came to romance.

Since they had exchanged phone numbers, Steve’s days were now filled with messages from her, ranging from cheesy pick up lines and shameless flirting to pictures of the plants she was creating and up-keeping in the Mortal Realm, to her simply telling him to _have a wonderful day, darling 💋_. Sometimes, she would mix things up and have Sam deliver him a flower along with a short handwritten note.

Steve loved every second of it.

He responded to all her texts the first second he could, most of the time with pick up lines or flirting that was worse than hers or pictures of Cerberus. He called her at least once a day just to hear her voice while she divulged the latest mortal gossip that she had overhead while at work, and he in turn would tell her about his day.

Steve genuinely couldn’t remember the last time that he’d felt like this in the presence of someone else. How he was always itching to talk to her or hold her, or even just be near her. The feeling of fire coursing through his veins and making him feel almost _warm_ \- of all things. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt warm the way he did when he held Peggy in his arms.

He could spend all of eternity feeling warm.

Steve shook his head. He shouldn’t get too ahead of himself.

Still, as he stared at the mismatched arrangement of flowers that he’d been gifted from Peggy, he couldn’t help but smile.

* * *

Three days after the first time they’d woken up together found Steve sitting at the edge of the river in his and Peggy’s field, his legs immersed in the water halfway up his calves. His socks, shoes, jacket and tie had been long discarded, pants traded for swim trunks, but he was still wearing his black button down shirt.

Peggy’s laughter rang out in the cool evening air as she splashed around in the river in nothing but a sea foam green bikini.

“Come on, Steve, the water is perfect!” she called out to him.

“I’m sure it is, my goddess” he smirked.

“Come in, you’re being boring!” she pouted.

“The view from here is perfect,” he told her, giving her a heated look.

“But you can’t kiss me from there,” she pointed out, making a show of adjusting her top.

What a show it was.

“You’re doing that on purpose,” he accused.

“Doing what?” she asked innocently.

Steve raised his eyebrow at her as she bit her lip teasingly. When Peggy locked eyes with him, Steve smirked and slowly began unbuttoning his shirt. Peggy watched him with hungry eyes as he shrugged it off his shoulders and made his way into the river, walking over to her with purpose.

When he made it to Peggy, he pulled her to him, her body flush against his. She grinned and wound her arms around his neck.

“About time you joined me in here. I was getting very lonely,” she purred.

Steve kissed his way down her neck, relishing the way Peggy sighed and melted against him.

“You’re never going to be lonely again, gorgeous,” he promised, sucking at the sensitive spot on her neck.

“Look who’s talking, gorgeous,” she murmured, tracing her fingertips along the scars on his shoulders and down to his biceps.

“You know,” he said against her skin. “You’re the only person who's ever loved my scars.”

Peggy pulled back slightly to look at him. 

“You’re not serious?” she frowned.

“I mean, no one’s ever _said_ anything against them,” he shrugged. “But you’re the only one who’s ever thought that they were outright attractive.”

Peggy’s frowned deepened and she cupped his face in her hands.

“I find every inch of you obscenely attractive, my darling. Inside and out.”

Steve felt his heart stutter at her sincerity.

“Obscenely?” he asked, the corner of his lips twitching upwards.

“It’s quite unfair,” she sighed dramatically, her right pointer finger following the line of one of his scars on his chest. “Just one look at you and I’m filled with such terribly _impure_ thoughts.”

“You want to talk about unfair?” he asked, reaching down and grabbing her ass.

Gasping softly, Peggy tilted her head up and nibbled on his left earlobe.

“I’m quite finished talking, actually,” she whispered, pulling him down by the back of his neck to kiss him.

Steve was done talking too.

* * *

Two days later, Peggy sent him a picture of a particular flower arrangement that she was particularly proud of, a small hoard of red amaryllis. Something about the flowers - the red colour of them, more specifically - left Steve feeling inspired. 

He thought of the red on Peggy’s lips that he could never kiss off, no matter how hard he tried. He thought of how since he’d whispered to her how much he liked her in red she now exclusively wore red on her lips. He thought of the red roses that bloomed around them every time she came, her matching fingernails digging into his skin.

Steve ended up spending the later part of that afternoon forging a pair of flower-shaped earrings out of pure gold. He carefully added rubies into the slots he had left empty just for that purpose. 

Once they were absolutely perfect, he placed them in a black velvet box.

“Well what do we have here?”

Steve turned sharply at the sight of Natasha. After all this time she was the only one who was still able to sneak up on him.

“Nothing,” he said firmly. 

Her eyes flicked to the box that he hadn’t had a chance to hide, or even close the lid. She arched her eyebrow up at him.

“That’s a really pretty _nothing_ you’ve got there.”

Steve frowned at her smirk, but said nothing.

“You still haven’t told me who she is,” Nat noted aloud. 

He continued to stare at her stonily.

“I’m just glad you finally found someone you care about so much.”

Steve pursed his lips tightly.

“You know I’m right,” Nat continued. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be protecting your relationship with her as much as you are.”

His shoulders dropped slightly, pausing to consider the genuineness of her tone, but she didn’t give him a chance to answer before she left the room.

* * *

When he met Peggy in their field that night and handed her the gift, Steve knew that he wouldn’t have traded seeing the look on her face when she laid her eyes on the earrings for anything in the world.

“Steve, these are gorgeous,” she whispered.

“Their beauty pales in comparison to yours,” he told her softly, but with conviction.

“Charmer,” she murmured, the tops of her cheeks turning pink.

He pulled her closer by her hips, leaning his forehead against hers.

“I’m _your_ charmer,” he told her. 

Peggy tilted her head up, her eyes sparkling with challenge.

“Prove it,” she whispered.

For the briefest second, she sounded almost uncertain as to whether he would take back his words.

Steve nuzzled his nose against hers, thinking about Natasha’s earlier words to him. 

_I’m just glad you finally found someone you care about so much._

He closed the velvet box in Peggy’s hands and kissed her deeply.

The earrings were then forgotten entirely as he pressed her against a tree and kissed his way down her body, intent on showing her just how much he meant it.

How much she meant to him.

* * *

Steve saw Peggy the next day in Piraeus. 

He hadn’t planned on it, but his day had been going from bad to worse from the moment he made it back to the Underworld, and with every second that passed he’d found himself longing for her more and more.

The first chance that he had to sneak away was mid-afternoon. He immediately changed into his mortal form and went off to the Mortal Realm to where she’d told him she would be for the day. 

Even in her own mortal form: the absence of her godly glow and the peplos she wore, it was easy to spot her in the nearly barren field she was tending to.

Sensing his presence, Peggy stopped halfway through growing some type of tree, and looked up at him. Her face immediately broke out into a grin. Steve matched it, and rushed over to her.

She met him halfway, laughing vibrantly as he picked her up and spun her around. He sighed softly, burying his face in her shoulder. Steve felt in awe at how easily she made the tension in his body slowly ease away.

It had been a long time since he’d sought refuge in anyone else’s arms.

“Steve, what are you doing here? I thought I wouldn’t see you today,” she said when he finally set her down.

“I wanted to surprise my best girl,” he shrugged, but he couldn’t help but feel his heart race when he finally noticed that she was wearing the earrings he’d gifted her.

Peggy smiled softly and she cupped his face.

“Are you certain you’re alright, my darling?” she asked gently, and Steve knew she was seeing right through him.

He figured that the way the already dry grass was beginning to wilt under his feet wasn’t doing him any favours.

Steve shook his head slightly, not wanting to get into it. He was with Peggy now, everything else could wait.

Peggy nodded in understanding and pulled him down for a tender kiss instead.

“How much time before you have to be back?” she asked when they broke away.

“Enough to show you just how much I missed you,” he told her, giving her a wolfish smile.

“Steve, we’re in public,” she whispered, but he could hear a tinge of excitement in her voice.

“How is this any different from our field on Olympus?” he asked, his hands running up and down her sides.

“Most of the gods don’t know it exists or don’t care about it, the nymphs keep away at my request, and there’s not _a million_ mortals walking by,” she listed, though she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

“Well I think this field needs some red roses,” he said before throwing her over his shoulder.

“ _Steve_ ,” she squealed, but didn’t fight him.

Peggy laughed as he carried her to a barely more secluded spot in the field. She conjured up lush, comfortable grass all around them by the time he was laying her down.

Later, after Steve had deemed the field had a sufficient amount of newly bloomed red roses (and Peggy looked perfectly undone), he slowly pulled himself away from her.

“I just don’t think it’s going to work,” Steve told her, fixing his chiton.

“Not with that attitude it won’t,” she quipped, adjusting her peplos.

Steve rolled his eyes fondly and picked a rose out of her hair.

“It’ll pass,” he explained. “Nothing we need to worry about now.”

“I’m not worrying,” she answered. “But it seems like you’re scared to see what happens.”

He frowned.

“I’m not scared.”

“Then you’ll try it,” she announced cheerily.

“Peggy-”

“Please? For me?” she asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

“You know it’s unfair when you look at me like that,” he told her.

“It’s not my fault I’m so irresistible,” she teased, settling between his legs, her back against his chest.

Steve instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her tight to him. Peggy raised her right arm, holding her palm up. He placed his own right hand on top of hers so that they were facing the same direction.

“Ready?” she asked.

“As I’ll ever be,” he murmured, trying not to sound doubtful.

“Just have some faith,” she said softly.

“Okay,” he conceded.

After a moment, his palm began to tingle. He watched in awe and disbelief as a red iris bloomed in his open hand and settled there.

“It’s still alive,” he whispered after a few moments.

“I told you,” she said proudly. “You just needed a little faith.”

Steve hummed thoughtfully as two more red irises bloomed in his hand and remained perfectly in tact. While he prided himself on his self-control, when he was as upset as he had been earlier, it usually took half a day of him cooling down before he could safely be around any plant-life without causing them to die.

And yet here in his palm, were three fully alive red irises.

“Faith,” he echoed quietly.

Peggy gently closed his hand over the irises and turned her head to smile up at him. 

“And maybe a little something else,” she teased, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

He kissed her in response, clutching the irises carefully in his fist.

* * *

Despite the fact that they were spending nearly every day together, the first time they slept (properly slept, that is) anywhere that wasn’t their field was just over a week after their first date.

Steve had promised to meet Peggy for a picnic dinner in their field, but everything he encountered that day conspired against him to be able to leave at a decent hour. Eventually he’d had to accept the fact that he wouldn’t be able to make dinner. Though he’d warned Peggy of this, she told him that she’d be up either way, and if he still wanted to see her, he could come to her home. 

Just as he’d predicted, it was almost midnight by the time he was able to leave the Underworld. With hardly a thought other than how much he wanted to see Peggy (and the knowledge that Cerberus was already fed and fast asleep at home keeping him at ease), he sent her a text. She’d answered only a moment later, and he teleported straight to her front door. 

She opened it immediately, and after taking one good look at him, kissed him deeply. Steve didn’t have a chance to even look around her home as she pulled him in and teleported them straight to her bed.

Not that he minded one bit.

“I’m sorry I missed dinner,” he murmured much later as they lay in her bed, her back pressed against his chest.

The sheets were tangled up around their legs, and red roses were now littered around the room. It thrilled Steve to know that he had this effect on her every time.

“You’re here now,” she told him in a soft voice as he kissed her shoulder.

“It wasn’t fair to make you wait,” he said.

Peggy turned in his arms to face him.

“You didn’t make me do anything. I wanted to wait for you.”

“But-” 

“Steve, you’re a king. You have an entire Realm to run, with gods and souls to take care of. I’m not going to pretend that there won’t be times when things come up and you’ll have to cancel. I’m never going to be mad when you prioritize your work. I’m just grateful for the time I do have with you.”

“I’ll always make time for you,” he promised, tucking a curl behind her ear.

“I appreciate that, my darling, but please don’t compromise anything for me,” Peggy told him gently.

“I’m not,” he assured her. “My work is important, but you remind me that I have worth outside of my job. I love being with you.”

“I’ve been having fun too. In case it hasn’t been obvious,” she teased.

He chuckled and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

“Not just the incredible sex,” he told her. “Everything.”

“Everything?”

“Everything.”

He kissed her softly before she could contest him, pouring every ounce of reassurance he could into it. 

“Steve,” she said softly after their lips parted. “I know it hasn’t been that long but… I really do care for you. Quite a bit.”

Steve was fully aware that things with Peggy were progressing at a near lightning pace. A week in and when they weren’t physically together, they were communicating either through Sam or their phones. When they weren’t doing that, Steve’s thoughts were still all but consumed by her. 

“I care about you too,” he whispered. “A lot.”

Peggy was not-so-slowly and definitely surely worming her way to the core of his heart, and deep down, that terrified him. There were people in his life who were constant - Natasha, Bucky, Sam, and even his brothers - but no one had ever existed for him this way romantically. A small part of him was still waiting to wake up and find that Peggy was just an elaborate dream he’d made up.

Or that she’d realize they were too different to make it work in the long run.

But then she smiled brightly, looking up at him with her warm, caring eyes, and Steve knew that he would be okay with the possibility of a crash landing at the end of this, knowing how sweet the fall was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Red amaryllis means determination and beauty, and the giver of a red iris means that they burn for you.
> 
> For those interested, [these are the earrings Steve made for Peggy](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.shophq.com%2FProduct%2F164-798&psig=AOvVaw3aoerFgMskABtCMq1Gqe6s&ust=1602525329857000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCNCIkJqOrewCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAH)
> 
> My eternal love to Darcy for this one.


	6. Freesia (Trust)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick Greek Mythology anecdote that will be important in the general context of this chapter:
> 
> Hades’ father, Kronos, usurped his own father Uranus, and took over his position as King of the gods. After that event, Kronos was foretold by his mother Gaia, that his own children would rise against him and do to him what he did for his father. In order to try and stop that from happening, Kronos swallowed all of his children at birth (Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera). Rhea (Kronos' wife) was heartbroken and tired of it, so when she had Zeus, she hid him and gave Kronos a rock wrapped in a blanket for him to swallow in his place. After Zeus was old enough, Rhea encouraged him to save his siblings and overtake his father, which he did. This is what led to the Titan War, and Kronos' eventual defeat and imprisonment in Tartarus.
> 
> I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but Thanos is filling the role of Kronos in this fic.
> 
> The Fates also show up in this chapter. They're also called the Moirai, which is how they're referred to here. For reference, they always speak in the same order.  
> The Ancient One - Clotho (The Spinner)  
> Frigga - Lachesis (The Allotter)  
> Wanda - Atropos (The Inevitable)

“You’re going to be the most beautiful man in the cosmos when I’m done with you,” Peggy told Steve decidedly.

“I thought I was already the most beautiful man you’d ever seen?” he asked, pretending to be offended.

“Of course, darling, but this is going to make you that much more handsome,” she grinned.

“Whatever you say, sweetheart,” he answered amusedly.

Steve shut his eyes, enjoying the feeling of Peggy’s fingers carding through his hair while she worked. They were on her bed, neither of them wearing any clothes. He was sitting in between her legs, his back against her chest, settled snuggly in her embrace.

It was Peggy’s new favourite way of cuddling since she’d done it the first time a few days ago and found out that it was the first time anyone had done so.

_“You mean no one’s ever held you like this?” she’d asked incredulously when he’d casually pointed it out. “Ever?”_

_“No,” he said._

_“No one’s ever cradled you to their chest or been your big spoon? Not even while sleeping?”_

_“Nope.”_

_She huffed in disbelief, and Steve’s lips twitched up into a smile._

_“It wasn’t like I ever asked,” he reasoned._

_“You shouldn’t have to be asked to be held,” she said, and he could practically hear Peggy’s frown in her voice._

_“For what it’s worth, I don’t care that no one else has done it,” he told her honestly. “You’re doing it now.”_

_“I’m very lucky to be doing so,” she murmured, burying her face in his hair and squeezing him even tighter._

_“I think we’re both lucky,” he mused out loud._

“Alright, my darling King,” she said, bringing his thoughts back to the present. “All done.”

“But I’m comfortable here,” he pouted.

She laughed softly, nuzzling her nose into his cheek.

“And what if I promise to keep holding you like this after you see your new look?”

He sighed dramatically, causing Peggy to giggle. 

“I suppose I’ll allow it,” he conceded.

Before she could respond, Steve tilted his head up and kissed the sensitive spot on her neck. Despite the small noise of protest she made when he stopped, he untangled himself from Peggy and walked to her vanity mirror.

Steve took in the red camellia flowers and smilax leaves that now adorned his head in a shape similar to the flower crowns that Peggy normally wore.

“Well?” she asked hopefully.

“I love it,” he said, turning back to smile at her.

“You’re not just placating me, are you?” she asked, arching her eyebrow up at him.

“Of course not.”

Peggy’s face filled with joy.

“Does that mean you’ll wear it to work?”

Steve hesitated for a moment. He wasn’t necessarily opposed, but the looks he imagined Bucky and Natasha would give him weren’t exactly promising.

“Well, I mean I could - if you really want me to-”

Peggy let out a small giggle that interrupted him, and he realized she was just messing with him.

“Oh you’re hilarious,” he frowned.

“I know,” she grinned. “Now come back here.”

She made grabby hands and pouted at him, and though he shook his head fondly, he eagerly returned back to her arms, where he remained happily for the rest of the night.

* * *

“There’s a lot of unrest today,” Steve told Natasha the next day as they worked through their weekly trip to Tartarus to reinforce the spells holding all the souls in place.

“You think? I don’t sense anything,” Nat answered as she maneuvered her hands around purposefully.

Steve’s frown deepened, scrutinizing the area more and more as they approached the cells where the Titans were kept. The hair on the back of his neck was prickling more than normal.

“I don’t know,” he said in a low voice, unable to feel the slight agitation in his gut. “Something’s… off.”

Nat, knowing very well not to underestimate his gut, paused her movements and analyzed the area. It wouldn’t be the first time the Titans tried to escape. Their previous attempts were the reason why Steve checked Tartarus almost every day, and why he and Nat made a weekly visit together.

Eventually, she simply shook her head apologetically.

“I’ve got nothing, boss.”

Steve let out a slow breath.

“He could just be trying to mess with my head,” Steve muttered.

It wouldn’t be the first time. One of Thanos’ favourite pastimes was meddling with his children’s minds - literally. 

“When isn’t he?” Nat snorted. “Do you want to do another lap to double check?”

“It’s alright,” he said. “It’ll all be fine.”

Still, as Steve went about the rest of his day, his father’s last words to him before he threw him into his cell played on a loop in his head.

_You will come to lose everything you love, just as I have. The cycle will continue._

He’d scoffed at his words at the time, but the more Steve thought about it now, the more he couldn’t help but wonder if it hadn’t actually been the violent threat of a defeated enemy, but a warning.

A prophecy.

* * *

Steve arrived at Peggy’s house that night simultaneously anxious and exhausted, but grateful for the reprieve that would come as soon as she was in his arms.

Even during his most meaningful relationships, he’d never had anyone to come home to. Though her home was not _technically_ his, Steve was coming to feel as though it was, for the comfort that he always felt following his arrival. Peggy was always there to greet him with tender kisses, and offered a warm embrace through the night. He slept better by her side than he had in decades.

Still, his visit to Tartarus that day - no matter how ordinary it turned out to be - had unsettled him more than he’d admitted to Natasha. Not even the fact that Peggy was now in his arms while they lay in bed could calm his racing mind.

“Do you ever think about fate?” he asked aloud in the darkness.

“What about fate?” she mumbled sleepily into the pillow.

He smiled softly and pulled her back closer against his chest.

“Do you think that our fates our predetermined like the mortals?”

“Why don’t you ask the Moirai themselves?” she asked, and he could hear the amusement in her voice, the heaviness from sleep slowly leaving her. “They’d be able to give you a better answer than anything I could think up.”

“The Moirai are wise, but they’re temperamental at best,” he said. “Even Tony has enough sense not to deal with them unless absolutely necessary.”

“That’s only the Ancient One. Frigga and Wanda are rather nice,” Peggy murmured. 

“Not if you try to actually ask them anything about the future,” Steve muttered.

“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience,” she teased.

“You have no idea,” he sighed.

Peggy turned in his arms, reaching a hand up to brush his hair away from his face. Steve nuzzled his head against her touch and let out a small breath.

“Why the sudden interest in fate?” she asked gently.

“Something came up at work,” he admitted. “And it brought up some old memories.”

“Bad ones?”

He nodded slightly.

“What if this entire time I’ve just been manipulated into playing into some invisible, inevitable game? One that has a terrible ending.”

“Well…” she mused, pausing to take a moment to think about her response. “Call it wishful thinking, but I like to think we immortals have at least some control over our lives. Some things are inevitable, but in the end, I think it’s all largely up to us what happens.”

“You think so?”

“That’s just my opinion,” she shrugged.

“Well your opinion matters to me,” he told her.

She gave him a warm smile.

“In that case, might I tell you why I like to think that?”

“Of course,” he smiled.

“Because if we don’t have any control over what happens to us, then our immortal life has no meaning. Having reign over our choices and our lives means that we can always choose to be better, to be _good_ , even if we make mistakes along the way.”

“That’s quite beautiful.”

“It also means that even if you think that you’re getting rid of me any time soon, you are sorely mistaken. I don’t know whose strings I’ll have to pull to make that happen but you’re stuck with me now.”

Steve let out a hearty laugh.

“Now that I can certainly get behind.”

“Good,” she smiled. “Now sleep, my darling. We can come up with more theories on why I’m right when we’re properly rested.”

“Yes ma’am,” he murmured with a small smile.

* * *

_The cycle will continue._

Steve shot upright in bed, breathing heavily, his body covered in a cold sweat. He could almost feel his scars throbbing with pain. 

Nightmares about his father were unfortunately exceedingly normal, even if they weren’t frequent. 

He really should’ve seen it coming, considering how he’d felt after visiting Tartarus. 

It took Steve a few moments to stop panicking and catalogue his surroundings. He was in Peggy’s room, Peggy’s bed. It was still night. Peggy was awake beside him, watching him closely.

_Shit._

Her knowing that he had nightmares was one thing, but having to actually deal with them was another matter altogether. 

One they hadn’t discussed.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered hoarsely. “Go back to sleep.”

Peggy shook her head, and his heart plummeted to his stomach.

“What do you need?” she asked softly.

Steve stared at her, dumbfounded at her reaction. Not only did she not look mad at being woken up, but she was asking him what he needed.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she prompted when he remained silent.

Steve shook his head numbly. 

“Would you like to be alone?”

Steve shook his head harder, instantly reaching out to grab her hand before she could leave. Peggy laced their fingers together and stroked the back of his hand with her thumb.

“Do you want me to hold you?”

He nodded slightly.

Without a word, Peggy gathered him in her arms. He let out a shaky breath and buried his face in the crook of her neck, trying to hide himself against her body. She rocked him gently, her arms a haven from the images of war and golden liquid escaping fading bodies without faces. Just as Steve was beginning to breathe properly, she laid them both back down, his head now pillowed on her breasts. Her fingers began stroking his hair and she hummed something that sounded like a lullaby. 

Against all odds, his eyelids soon began feeling heavy.

“Sleep, my darling,” Peggy whispered before beginning to hum again.

Before her tender caresses and soft voice soothed Steve back to sleep, he couldn’t help but feel awed by the fact that he’d never been able to fall back asleep after a nightmare before.

He’d certainly never felt anything close to _safe_ after a nightmare.

In the morning, Peggy woke him up by gently peppering his face with kisses. 

“How are you?” she asked quietly once he was fully awake, her fingers raking through his hair.

“Better,” he answered honestly, leaning into the touch.

“It’s alright if you’re not,” she assured, sliding her hand to cup his cheek.

He gave her a soft smile and kissed her palm.

“I know. But I am, trust me.”

She smiled warmly.

“Why don’t you take a shower and I’ll have breakfast ready for us by the time you’re out, hm?”

Not wanting to be alone just yet, Steve shook his head and tilted it so he could kiss her in lieu of a verbal response.

It was another hour before Steve was in the shower - Peggy along with him - and another decent chunk of time before they were out of the shower and dressed.

Peggy still made good on her promise of breakfast, humming softly as she stood in front of the stove, Steve’s arms wrapped tightly around her waist from behind. They didn’t share any words between them as she prepared their food, but he relished every little sigh, every soft laugh that came from her mouth as he kissed along her shoulder, neck and jaw.

With a fork, she stabbed a cooked piece of the scrambled eggs she was preparing from the frying pan, and blew on it. However, instead of eating it herself, she offered it to him. Steve accepted it eagerly, moaning contentedly as he chewed.

“High praise,” Peggy teased, turning her attention back to the stove.

Steve watched her with warm eyes, moving his hands to lightly run up and down her sides.

“Thank you,” he murmured softly after a few moments.

The smile on her face told him she knew he wasn’t just referring to the food.

As she finally shooed him away so that he could grab plates for their food, Steve’s thoughts drifted to the idea of more mornings like this. Mornings after nightmares that weren’t empty and cold. They were filled with soft kisses and tender touches, fresh roses sprouted around the bedroom and bathroom, and a homemade breakfast prepared with care.

He couldn’t help but think that a future like that didn’t seem as unattainable as it used to be.

* * *

Curiosity got the better of him. 

Approximately thirty hours after his nightmare, Steve went down to see the Moirai for the first time in over 1,500 years.

He heard them before he saw them.

“Your Majesty,” the Ancient One greeted as she and the two other figures appeared from the shadows.

As always, they wore variations of the same flowing, elegant, long sleeve, floor-length dresses. The Ancient One in yellow, Frigga in blue, and Wanda in red. 

“We’ve been expecting you,” Frigga said kindly.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen you last,” Wanda added.

“It has,” he agreed. “I trust you’ve all been well.”

“You know we can’t and won’t tell you a thing about what you wish to know,” the Ancient One told him at once.

She never was one for small talk.

“I’m not looking for anything specific,” Steve said. “Not this time.”

“You wish to know about fate,” Frigga stated, tilting her head slightly.

“And the choice and willpower of the gods,” Wanda added, a curious smile on her mouth.

He nodded.

“My father’s mother foretold his downfall,” he said. “She was right.”

“She was,” the Ancient One said, showing no indication of giving him anything else.

“Then everything is laid out for us?” he said, more than asked. “Just like the mortals.”

“It seems you’ve made up your mind already,” Frigga noted. “Which means you’ve no need of anything further from us.”

“I’m still trying to understand,” he explained. “Thanos went to great lengths to stop his fate from playing out but it didn’t work.”

“You can’t really believe that your father had no control over his fate?” Wanda asked amusedly.

“What my grandmother prophesied came true,” he pointed out. “And you’ve given me no reason to think otherwise.

“Your grandmother had no right to tell your father about her vision,” the Ancient One frowned.

“But no one forced your father to act as he did,” Frigga said.

“And in doing so, he caused his own downfall,” Wanda finished.

Steve furrowed his eyebrows, giving them each a look.

“Fate is a tricky thing, your Majesty,” the Ancient One said tightly. 

“It can be incredibly fickle when you let it be.” 

“Which is why we don’t allow it - at least, with the mortals.”

“Could you imagine the chaos that would ensue if we let the mortals control their own destinies,” the Ancient One scoffed.

“They can be kind creatures,” Frigga said sternly in her direction. “Even good sometimes.”

“But they need much _assistance_ in life.” 

“And a firm hand.”

“Which of course is where we come in.”

“What about immortals?” Steve asked. 

“What about them?” Wanda asked with a knowing smile.

“You told my brothers and I that you couldn’t help us win the Titan war.”

“It is not in our nature to interfere, no matter what knowledge we possess,” the Ancient One reminded him.

“I know, but do you control our fate like you do with the mortals?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Is it, though?” Wanda muttered.

“Which means what?” Steve asked, taking a step forward as the other two glared at Wanda.

The three of them shared a silent conversation until the Ancient One finally acquiesced.

“The lives of mortals are rigid, their fates unchangeable,” she said. 

“But even we do not hold such control over immortals.”

“We have the power to influence, to suggest, to lead, but we cannot control as we do with the mortals,” Wanda explained.

“Then why did my father fall if you didn’t will it so?” Steve asked.

“Prophecies are the exception with immortals,” the Ancient one sighed. “When an immortal falls into the trap of a prophecy, it is of their own doing.”

“By trying to control their prophecy, they upset the powers of the cosmos. No matter what course of action they take.”

“The more they do to avoid it, the larger the lengths they go to, the more devastating the results when they finally fail,” Wanda finished.

“There’s no getting around a prophecy,” Steve said, his stomach filling with lead. “No matter if you’re mortal or immortal.”

“We didn’t say that,” the Ancient One said tartly.

“But you just-”

“It’s when you try to _change_ it,” Frigga reiterated. “When you actively defy the will of the cosmos that you lose.”

“Which is why you’re here,” Wanda told him.

“What?” Steve asked her.

“We see _all_ , your Majesty,” the Ancient One said amusedly. “Even the things that you keep from those in your life.”

“You’ve never cared about your father’s threat before. But you do now.”

“Because for the first time since then, you have something - _someone_ \- you can’t bear to lose,” Wanda told him.

Steve’s jaw clenched.

“There’s no need to be ashamed,” the Ancient One placated. 

“We can see why you care for her so much,” Frigga agreed.

“And it’s about damn time we saw you both this happy,” Wanda smirked.

Steve paused for a second.

“Thanos said-”

“That you would lose everything you love,” the Ancient One finished for him. “We know.”

Steve took a breath.

“It’s too soon to call this _love_ -”

Wanda scoffed, and Frigga elbowed her harshly.

“No matter. You don’t want to lose her,” Frigga finished softly for him.

Steve thought of the red irises that grew and lived in his hand. The joy in Peggy’s eyes at seeing him wear the flowers she’d adorned him with. The way she held him without judgement after his nightmare and soothed him back to sleep.

“I _can’t_ lose her,” he admitted.

“Well then are you ever in luck,” Wanda grinned.

The Ancient One held up her hand sharply, and Wanda frowned, but remained silent.

“The thing that you fear most, it would serve you best to let it go,” she said sternly.

“Just like that?” he asked dubiously.

“Your father is extremely powerful,” Frigga said.

“But he cannot see everything.”

“And it is unwise to heed the words of a power-hungry Titan, with no true knowledge of the cosmos.”

Steve’s heart skipped a beat.

“That means-”

“No one can be promised happiness for eternity,” Frigga warned him.

“But with the way your spring goddess acts, I’d say you have as good a chance as any.”

Steve frowned.

“How does she act?”

The three of them shared what could almost be a warm smile.

“She’s… unpredictable,” the Ancient One said.

“Powerful.”

“Wonderfully captivating,” Wanda whispered with a smirk.

“If there’s any one being who hasn’t adhered to her foretold path-”

“-it would be her.”

“Her spirit is like nothing we’ve seen.”

Steve regarded them curiously.

“Fear not, your Majesty,” the Ancient One told him.

“All will be as it should,” Frigga continued.

“I suspect it already is.”

The other two stared at Wanda, who merely shrugged, a knowing grin on her face.

“Now, if that is all,” the Ancient One prompted.

Even though he had a million more questions, Steve knew better than to push his luck. Besides, he had his answer - or as close to one as he was going to get.

“Thank you,” he said honestly.

“No need to thank us, your Majesty,” Frigga said.

“We always prefer you over your brothers,” Wanda winked.

Steve couldn’t help but smile at her. She’d always been his favourite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Physical touch is Steve's love language and you can't change my mind.
> 
> Red camellia flowers mean “you’re a flame in my heart” and smilax leaves mean “loveliness”.


	7. Yellow Acacia (Secret Love)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's related Greek Mythology fun fact: Mortals can summon Hades by hitting their palms on the ground twice.

After his meeting with the Moirai, Steve came to three conclusions.

One, his father’s threat was just that. A threat. Not a prophecy. Nothing to lose his head over.

Two, even if it was a prophecy, he was better off not trying to preemptively stop it. He had control over his life, but he wasn’t about to piss off the cosmos. If it came down to his worst fears coming to life, he could figure something out on the spot.

Third, the Moirai were certain that his and Peggy’s futures were intertwined - or at least Wanda was.

Though he thought he was far past this point, his heart continued to pound in his chest at the thought of that.

After checking in with Nat and Bucky for their weekly meeting - and assuring Nat that everything was alright in Tartarus - Steve wrapped up all loose ends for the day (including an extra long walk for Cerberus) and headed to Peggy’s at what could almost be considered a decent hour, ready to tell her all about what had happened with the Moirai.

He could tell something was wrong the moment she opened the door.

Peggy’s body was tense, her smile was tight, and her eyebrows slightly pinched together.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said quickly.

He gave her a meaningful look.

“Try again.”

For a moment Peggy looked as though she was going to reiterate that everything was fine, but then she snapped her mouth shut. and gestured for him to come in - which he did. But instead of saying anything, she remained standing stiffly in the middle of her living room.

“Peggy?” he prompted gently. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

“How do you balance method versus results?” she finally asked quietly.

“It can be difficult,” he said carefully, not knowing where this was leading. “Normally you have to take it on a case by case basis.”

“But how do you know when you’ve gone too far?”

Steve frowned. She wasn’t even looking at him.

“Peggy, what is this about?”

“I did something bad,” she whispered.

“I won’t judge you.”

She rolled her eyes.

“You say that now-”

“I mean it,” he told her. “What happened?”

Peggy looked conflicted. Steve walked over to her and took her hands in his. She let out a small breath.

“I was working in Athens,” she began. “When I got a splitting headache - which never happens. I tried to ignore it but I soon realized that if I moved in a certain direction, it got worse, but if I walked another way, then it lessened.”

Steve furrowed his eyebrows.

“So I followed the pain,” Peggy continued. “Until I happened upon a farm, and at that point my head hurt so badly and I felt so nauseous that I nearly passed out but I knew what was wrong. The crops had been poisoned.”

“Poisoned?” he asked. 

She nodded.

“They looked perfect to the naked eye but they were so rotten it was making me sick. It was nothing like I’d ever encountered before. I began to heal them, but before I could get too far along, these mortals came out of the house and got upset with me for trespassing. So I explained what had happened, but they didn’t believe me. I tried to reason with them and get them to not harvest the crops but when that didn’t work I begged and I pleaded and I argued with them.”

“But they wouldn’t listen to you,” Steve realized.

Peggy shook her head.

“Bloody mortals. They’re stubborn and foolish and they wouldn’t listen to me! It was like they wanted to hurt, to _kill_ the people who’d be eating those crops.”

Steve frowned.

“What happened next?”

Peggy bit her lip.

“I felt so sick, Steve, and when I realized their intentions I couldn’t take it anymore. I… I killed the crops. And I made the soil they’d grown on completely infertile. And somewhere in the middle of all that I assumed my godly form to give them a proper scare.”

Steve blinked slowly.

“Okay,” he said.

“ _Okay_?” she snapped, dropping his hands. “Steve I _murdered_ crops, living things! And I made the ground _infertile_!”

“The price of a few crops and some ground is a low cost to pay to save countless mortal lives,” he pointed out as she began to pace the length of her living room. “Peggy, it wasn’t like you killed any mortals.”

“But I’ve never… Steve, I’ve never killed _anything_ before.”

“And it’s understandable that you’re distraught about it,” he assured.

Peggy stopped her pacing, her arms hugging herself.

“That’s just it, I’m not distraught.”

He raised his eyebrow at her.

“Well I am, but I’m not distraught over what I should be,” she whispered.

Steve tilted his head, the last piece of the puzzle clicking into place.

“Peggy,” he said, walking over to her. “You are not a bad person for not holding guilt over this.”

“But Steve, I’m supposed to bring life, not death. I went against the cardinal rule of being a fertility goddess and I don’t feel any remorse. Clearly-”

“Clearly it means that you made the right decision.”

“Do you really think that?” she whispered.

“If you made the wrong choice, you’d be regretting it. But you’re more upset by the fact that you _don’t_ feel bad about the decision you made. Believe me, as someone who doles out punishments for a living, I know a thing or two about this kind of thing.”

Peggy bit her lip.

“I saved lives,” she said quietly.

“You did,” he agreed gently.

“So I did the right thing.”

“You did.”

She let out a small breath, her shoulders sagging in relief. Steve wrapped his arms around her and held her tight to him.

“Thank you,” she whispered, burying her face in his neck.

“No need to thank me,” he smiled. “Now, how about we go to bed, sweetheart?”

“At least make me dinner first,” she teased, though she sounded tired.

Steve chuckled and kissed her hair.

“I’ll make you anything you want, my goddess.”

“Can I also put flowers in your hair?”

This time he laughed properly, a wide smile on his face.

Without him having to say it aloud, they both knew the answer was yes.

* * *

Early mornings with Peggy were potentially Steve’s favourite thing that they did. There was something special about the domesticity of waking up next to her, seeing her mussed hair, hearing her sleep-hoarse voice first thing.

He loved watching Peggy putter around the kitchen in only her peach silk robe while making them breakfast, and loved sharing the meal with her after. He loved being privy to her morning routine; the showering and grooming, choosing what dress to wear, the careful thought that she put into what flowers would adorn her head that day. 

Most of all, he loved being able to reach out and touch her, hold her, kiss her with ease as she did everything above, and being on the receiving end of her own physical affections for him - which she did plenty of when he made their breakfast that morning.

“Mmmm,” Peggy hummed after she finished eating. “Unbelievable.”

“What?”

“Not only are you an incredibly handsome king, but you’re an incredibly handsome king who can cook.”

Steve laughed.

“You don’t have to sound so surprised,” he told her. “I did make dinner last night.”

“That could have been a fluke,” she pointed out.

“Ouch.”

“I suppose a part of me suspected that you actually had servants that cook for you,” she teased.

“Nope,” he said, popping the “p” very proudly. “I cook for myself, thank you very much.”

“I’d even say you cook rather well,” she grinned. “Or at the very least you’re a fast learner.”

“And on that note, you’re going to have to teach me how to cook your favourite vegetarian meals,” he told her.

“Is that so?” she asked amusedly.

“Mhmmm. That way I can use Olympian ingredients to cook for you all the time when you come down to visit me in the Underworld.”

Peggy’s hand froze halfway to where she was going to grab her teacup. 

“Visit you?” she echoed.

Steve understood her shock at his comment. Everything they had done thus far had been in Mount Olympus, or the Mortal Realm on the one occasion.

Inviting her to the Underworld was his way of removing the last of his walls and asking her to see every last part of him.

“I’ve been spending a lot of time here, and I want to return the favour. I could give you a grand tour of the Kingdom and if I haven’t chased you off by then, you could sleep over and-”

“Yes,” she interrupted.

“Yes?” he asked with a smile.

She grinned while nodding furiously. 

“Steve, I would _love_ to-”

The rest of her sentence was interrupted by a knock on the door. Both of them froze and stared at each other with confusion. No one had ever come to visit Peggy when he’d been over. She herself had made a joke that her home was nearly as isolated as their field. Peggy held her hand up to signal Steve to remain quiet. 

“Margaret, open the door,” Amanda called out from the other side of the door. 

“ _Shit_ ,” Peggy hissed.

With a speed he could hardly process, Peggy stood and moved their empty breakfast plates and his empty coffee mug into the sink.

“Margaret!”

“Coming, mother!” she called out before turning to Steve.

She grabbed his bicep and pulled him up (with impressive force) into a standing position.

“Get in the pantry,” she ordered quietly.

“ _What?”_

“Do you really want to explain to my mother why you’re shirtless in my kitchen?”

“Good point,” he conceded, allowing Peggy to shove him into the pantry and close the door.

“ _Margaret!”_

“ _I’m coming!”_ Peggy called out as she rushed over to the door.

Steve held his breath. He heard the door open and Amanda enter in a huff and storm into the kitchen, Peggy hot on her heels.

“It took you long enough to answer the door,” Amanda complained. 

“Forgive me, mother, I was in the shower,” Peggy said tightly, though he could tell she had a smile on her face.

“At this late hour?”

“It’s just past 8am,” Peggy retorted, slightly exasperated. 

“And some of us were ready to begin work over an hour ago,” Amanda told her pointedly. 

“Is there a reason for this impromptu visit, mother?” Peggy asked politely, but clearly irritated.

“Yes,” she said, pausing for a moment. “I have some unfortunate, and frankly, disturbing business to discuss with you.”

“What’s the matter?” Peggy asked.

Steve could practically hear her frown.

“It has come to my attention that you’ve recently committed an atrocious act in the Mortal Realm.”

There was a long pause, and Steve pressed his ear against the door.

“I can’t believe you found out,” Peggy said finally.

“Honestly Margaret what do you take me for?”

“I stand by what I did, mother.”

_Good_ , Steve couldn’t help but think.

“That’s because you are too foolish, too _naive_ , to see the repercussions of your actions.”

Steve frowned, feeling anger pool in his gut.

“Those crops were poisoned. It wasn’t visible to the eye but I could feel it. What’s worse is that the farmers did it on purpose.”

“Did they tell you that?”

“Well no, but-”

“There you go then.”

“People would have _died_ , mother. I couldn’t just stand by and let it happen.”

“But that wasn’t the way to handle it,” Amanda said tersely.

“I had to stop those crops from being harvested, I-”

“You didn’t have to _kill_ the crops!” Amanda snapped.

“You weren’t there!” Peggy snapped back. “If I had healed the crops, they would have been poisoned again and distributed to half the city and been the cause of who knows how many deaths.”

“Margaret, you are the goddess of spring. What you did stands against everything we are.”

“Saving lives is what I did, mother. Isn’t that the point of what we do? To take care of the mortals?”

“Our plants, our crops bring life, _we_ bring life, but you brought _death_. You’ve done the unthinkable and you are showing no remorse for it.”

“Mother if you would just listen-” 

“There’s nothing more to hear. I’ve made my choice.”

“But you don’t-”

“Until you can prove to me that I can trust you, you will not lay a finger on the Mortal Realm.”

Steve’s eyes widened in horror and anger. He gripped the doorknob tightly, hardly keeping himself from throwing open the door and coming to Peggy’s defence.

“You can’t do that,” Peggy said, her voice dangerously low.

“You’ve left me with no choice, Margaret.”

“Just because I do things differently than you do, it doesn’t mean I’m doing them wrong,” Peggy told her angrily.

“It’s one thing to be unorthodox, but it’s another to be completely reckless and dangerous and a _bringer of death_.”

“In the century that I have been taking care of the Mortal Realm, both by your side and by myself, I have taken care of the mortals. This was no exception,” Peggy defended.

“We provide life, we do not kill. You doing this makes you no better than that _scum_ that runs the Underworld.”

“Don’t you _dare_ say a word against Steve,” Peggy spat. “You don’t know him.”

“Listen to yourself, Margaret! He is death personified. He is a _monster_. That man deserves no compassion. It’s clearer to me now more than ever just how corrupted you’ve become.”

“My decisions have value, and it’s insulting that you can’t see that! You’re blinded by your own prejudice-”

“ _Margaret_ -”

“You despise everything that’s different from you, things that you don’t understand, and I’ve become one of those things to you. You hate that I don’t do everything exactly like you do, that you can’t even _begin_ to comprehend my powers.”

“That’s enough!” Amanda snapped. “This tantrum of yours just proves to me that I’m making the right decision.”

“But mother-”

“Perhaps in a decade or so you’ll have found your common sense. Until then my decision is final.”

“ _Mother._ ” 

“Goodbye, Margaret.”

Steve was fuming, ready to explode. How dare Amanda come into Peggy’s home - _her daughter’s_ home - just to insult her and strip her of her duties in the Mortal Realm?

He waited for Peggy to come and get him, but he heard no sound on the other side of the door. After almost a full minute of silence passed, he slowly opened the door. 

Peggy was standing deadly still beside the kitchen table, facing the hallway where her mother had just left. Her hands were clenched into fists, knuckles almost white. Her mouth had formed a thin line, though he could tell that her bottom lip was threatening to quiver. Her eyes were shiny with unshed tears.

All around the kitchen there were now vines with thorns wrapped tightly around the furniture and appliances, and beginning to climb up the walls as they slowly grew toward Peggy.

Side stepping the vines on the ground, Steve approached her slowly until he was beside her. He waited there for a few moments, but Peggy didn’t move. She was hardly breathing. 

Steve didn’t know what to do. Peggy was always been vibrant and warm, with a quick comeback or tender compliment on the tip of her tongue. Last night had been strange enough, but the sight of her now, pale, glass-eyed, and on the verge of collapse broke his heart.

Tentatively, he reached out and brushed his fingers against her arm. 

It was as if he had reactivated her. Peggy’s body began shaking, and she let out a sob, her knees buckling. Steve immediately pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly against him while she cried into his chest. He swallowed his own anger for the woman who did this to Peggy in favour of holding his sweetheart, keeping her together just as she did for him.

He stroked Peggy’s hair until her sobs eventually subsided into the occasional sniffle.

“Why doesn’t she trust me?” Peggy asked in a shaky whisper, her face nestled in the crook of his neck. “Why can’t she have faith in me?”

Steve felt his heart break all over again and he held her tighter. 

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly.

Peggy hiccuped, her body shaking in his arms.

“No matter what I do I can’t seem to win,” she muttered miserably.

“Would it help if I said that _I’m_ proud of you?” he asked genuinely. “That I always am?”

She sniffled and held him tighter.

“Hey, why don’t I take the day off?” he offered softly. “We can spend the day however you like.”

Peggy pulled away just enough to look him in the eye. Though her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen they held a fierceness to them.

“Steve, I already monopolize so much of your time. Your job is too important to be away from it any more than you already are. I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not asking, I’m offering,” he said, wiping away her lingering tears with his thumb.

Steve kept one arm around her, selfishly wanting to hide her away in his arms from anything else that might hurt her.

“I’ll be alright,” she assured him, leaning into his touch. “I don’t want to cause you any trouble.”

“I promise you’re not. Come on, we can hang around here or in our field. You can even put flowers in my hair. As many as you want.”

Peggy gave him a small but soft smile.

“Have I ever told you that you’re the perfect man?”

“I could stand to hear it more often,” he joked.

Peggy let out a small laugh that nearly sounded like a sob and tilted her head up, nuzzling her nose against his.

“Thank you, my darling,” she said softly before resting her head on his shoulder again. “But I think I need to be alone right now, to process and figure everything out.”

“I understand,” he murmured reluctantly, kissing her hair. “But if that changes, if you need me-”

“You’ll be back in a heartbeat,” she finished for him. “I know.”

Steve hugged her tightly, trying to pour every ounce of love he had for her into it. His eyes suddenly widened in realization.

Love.

He was in love with Peggy.

Without a doubt in his entire being, he knew that he was completely, truly in love with Peggy.

About three weeks since they'd met and he was an absolute goner for her. It shouldn’t have come as such big a surprise, especially after his visit with the Moirai, but he still found himself reeling with the realization settling deep in his bones.

“Steve?” she asked, and Steve realized that he was still clutching Peggy tightly to him. 

“Sorry, I-” he cleared his throat, loosening his arms around her. “Hey, are you sure you don’t want me to stay? Because I can stay.”

“I’m certain, my darling,” she said, reaching up to cup his face with both hands. “Thank you, for being here. For…”

_Having faith in her_ , she didn’t say.

But Steve knew.

“I’ll always be here for you Peggy,” he promised, turning his head to kiss her left palm.

“I know,” she said softly. “Now go on, you have an entire Realm to run. And if I don’t see you before then, have fun with your brothers tonight, hm?”

It felt wrong, leaving Peggy here alone after this. After the altercation with her mother, after realizing that he was _in love_ with her. However, he was ready to support her in any way that she needed, and even if that meant giving her space.

Steve kissed her forehead gently.

“I’ll call you after, okay?”

“You better,” she joked.

Though her tone was flat, and she couldn’t quite manage a full smile, Steve was glad to note that the vines around the room had finally begun to retreat.

* * *

“Well look what the hellhounds dragged in,” Natasha said cheekily when Steve walked into his office late.

“Bite me,” he snapped.

“As fun as that sounds, I’m not sure your girlfriend would like that.”

“I’m not in the mood,” he growled.

“Okay,” Nat said slowly, walking over to the door and closing it before turning back to him. “What crawled up your ass and died?”

“I had a rough morning,” Steve bit back, waving her off.

“Wake up on the wrong side of bed? Or did you get kicked out of bed?”

“It’s not Peggy’s fault,” Steve snapped.

Nat’s eyes widened comically and Steve swore, running a hand through his hair.

“Wait, _Peggy_? The girl you’ve been seeing is Peggy? As in daughter of Amanda Peggy? You’re dating Peggy?”

Steve sighed, knowing it was too late to deny anything.

“Yes, okay, fine,” he conceded. “I’m dating Peggy.”

“Huh.”

“That’s all you have to say? _Huh?”_ Steve frowned.

“Well it explains the flowers. Now that I think about it, I should’ve known from the first day,” Nat said, shaking her head. “Daffodils have always been her favourite.”

“You know Peggy?” he asked, eyes widening.

“You forget that I worked with Amanda a century and a half ago. Not only have I met Peggy, I trained alongside her for a few years. She’s young, but she’s fierce - and scarily powerful.”

Steve snorted knowingly.

“You… you don’t think the age difference is weird?” he asked.

Truthfully, Steve didn’t care about their age difference, and neither did Peggy. It didn’t matter that she was a tenth of his age, Peggy had a sharp mind and a sharper tongue. However, the age difference was one of the reasons they’d decided not to be open about their relationship from the beginning.

“Even at 50 years old she could give most of those old assholes in the Council a run for their money. My gut tells me that not only can she keep up with you, she’s challenging you, which is exactly what you need.”

“She is,” Steve confirmed. “She’s everything I need.”

“That good, huh?” she said, raising her eyebrow.

“I love her, Nat,” he confided.

“I know,” she responded, her voice surprisingly soft.

Steve frowned.

“How can you know? I only figured it out this morning.”

“Well you’ve always been a bit slow,” she teased.

“Nat,” he complained, bordering on pouting.

She shook her head, but still smiled at him.

“Honestly? You’re finally leaving this place at a reasonable hour most nights. I know when she’s the one who’s texted you because your face lights up. You _smile_. Do you realize you’ve almost never done that before her? I hoped love would’ve had at least something to do with it.”

“She’s… _incredible_ ,” he said, a dreamy smile tugging at his lips. “The most incredible woman I’ve ever been with. She’s intelligent and funny and she has so many innovative ideas. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and tell me that I’m wrong. But she’s also warm and kind and she just - she _cares_ , you know?”

“And she’s good in bed,” Nat commented.

“ _Excuse me?”_

“Am I wrong? I’m assuming since you’ve spent almost every night with her for the last two and a half weeks that she’s good in bed.”

He arched his eyebrow up sharply.

“How do you know often I spend the night with her?”

“There’s this glow about you, and being a god has nothing to do with it,” she smirked.

“You’re the worst.”

“And you’re my friend, so what does that say about you?” she said dryly, before plopping the files she was carrying on his desk. “Now, do you want to go over the ideas for the upgrades to Elysium or not?”

Steve agreed, but he’d be lying if he said his mind wasn't elsewhere for the entirety of their meeting.

* * *

“Hey, there’s the old man!”

Steve rolled his eyes at Tony’s voice as he walked into his brother’s living room.

“You know, I don’t think once every six months is often enough for our guys’ night,” Tony said..

“I think it’s plenty,” Steve retorted, heading straight for the drink cart.

“There’s that dry humour we missed so dearly,” Tony joked.

“Hey, where were you this morning?” Bruce asked Steve.

“What do you mean?”

“I called your office so we could schedule our meeting but your assistant said you were out. I couldn’t get your cell phone either so I called Natasha and she said you were tending to urgent matters.”

“The souls were getting restless,” Steve shrugged, moving with his now poured scotch to sit beside Bruce. “Nothing too bad, but it required my immediate attention.”

As much as Steve loved his brothers, he was used to telling them white lies to keep them from digging too deep into his personal business - and when it came to Peggy, he felt even less eager to share.

“Don’t you have underlings that take care of that kind of thing?” Tony asked.

“They’re my subjects, and I find that a hands on approach is the best one.”

Tony snorted.

“You know I’ve used that line on a nymph or two.”

Both Steve and Bruce groaned.

“What? It worked. You should both be taking notes.”

“Your advice barely works for you,” Steve told him. “Besides, need I remind you that you have a wife?”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you over the sound of your lonely ass,” Tony joked.

“Just because I’m not a serial philanderer, doesn’t mean I’m lonely.”

“Even so,” Bruce began cautiously.

“Even so what?” Steve asked. 

“Well, Tony’s philandering aside, we’re both married,” Bruce finished. 

Steve sighed.

“Not this again,” he complained.

“We just want you to be happy,” Bruce told him.

“And lucky for you, I’m a genius,” Tony said. “I know you hate dating, so I’ve come up with an easy solution for you. Why not just pick out the first pretty girl you see and take her back to the Underworld with you and marry her, huh? Problem solved.” 

“Tony, I’d like my wife to actually love me,” Steve said flatly.

“Love’s so overrated nowadays,” Tony shrugged. “Monogamy is out, even with the mortals.”

“I think the idea is that at least your partner knows that you’re in an open relationship, though,” Bruce said. “Love can still be there even if you’re seeing different people.”

“Come on, Bruce, Stevie’s supposed to be the only stick in the mud.”

“Just because he’s come to his senses and agreed with Betty to open their relationship doesn’t mean he’s a stick in the mud,” Steve told Tony. “Besides, monogamy works wonders for some.”

“Wait, what was that?” Tony asked, squinting at Steve.

“What was what?” Steve asked.

“That smile,” he said.

“You more than anyone should know that I don’t smile.”

“No, I saw it too,” Bruce agreed.

“And not just any smile, that was a girl-related smiled,” Tony accused.

“That’s not-”

“There it is again! When I mentioned a girl. Because there _is_ a girl, isn’t there?”

“I’m not saying-”

“That’s why he only grumbled once when we reminded him about tonight!” Tony gasped dramatically.

“You’re delusional Tony,” Steve told him with a frown.

“Normally I’d agree, but there’s no denying that smile,” Bruce said.

“So come on, who is she?” Tony poked him.

“Or he,” Bruce amended.

“Or they,” Tony added.

Steve snorted.

“Come on, we want to meet them,” Bruce continued.

“Even _if_ there was someone, the answer would be absolutely not,” Steve said.

“What’s the matter, Stevie?” Tony asked. “Scared that once they meet me, they’ll dump your ass for your hotter brother?”

Steve rolled his eyes.

“You really like them, don’t you?” Bruce asked, bringing Steve’s attention back to him. “I’ve never seen you fight so hard to protect anyone you’ve being seeing from us.”

“I have the urge to protect _everyone_ from the two of you,” Steve said dryly. “Especially when you’re together.”

Both of them complained wholeheartedly, and the corners of Steve’s mouth twitched up.

“A toast,” Tony announced abruptly, raising his glass. “To our older brother finally getting a life. Even if he won’t admit it.”

“How is it that you always manage to just toe the line between lovable and asshole?” Bruce asked.

“It’s my sweet spot,” Tony shrugged. “Now come on, we’re celebrating. I’m breaking out the good stuff.” 

* * *

After dodging Tony’s good-natured (though relentless) pestering about who he was seeing for the millionth time, Tony _finally_ grumbled and allowed them to change the subject. From there, the brothers fell into their regular banter and catch up.

Steve had to admit that sometimes, he liked spending time with his brothers. They could be rough around the edges - Tony especially - but so was Steve. And no matter how terrible things got between them, they could always find their way back.

Even if it sometimes took a decade or two.

Much later, long after the sky had changed to night, Steve walked out of Tony’s house with Bruce. He gave Bruce one final goodbye before his brother teleported back home.

Before he could take out his phone to call Peggy, however, Steve felt a familiar pull in his gut.

He was being summoned.

But not by a mortal.

_Peggy_ , his heart whispered _._

Steve closed his eyes and allowed himself to be pulled to her. He opened his eyes a moment later, and saw that he was in her living room. Peggy was on her knees in front of him, her palms on the ground.

Her eyes widened when she saw him.

“It worked,” she said, gaping at him slightly.

“Of course it did,” he said softly, offering her his hand.

“I know it works for mortals,” she said, accepting his hand and help to stand. “I was only half convinced that another god could summon you.”

“Well don’t go spreading it around,” he winked. “You’re the only god I want using it.”

Peggy’s arms were suddenly around his neck. She nuzzled her face in his shoulder and Steve instinctively hugged her tightly.

“I know I should’ve called you, or waited for you to call me,” Peggy said, her voice muffled by his shoulder. “But I couldn’t wait.”

“Don’t apologize,” he reassured her. “This is better.”

“Can I convince you to stay the night?”

“No convincing needed, my goddess,” he told her, kissing her temple.

“Making good on your promise to keep me from being lonely?”

“Of course. As a king, my word is everything,” he teased.

Peggy buried her face in his neck instead of answering, but Steve could swear that he felt her smile. He scooped her up in his arms and teleported to her bedroom. She was already wearing her silk nightgown, so he simply laid her in bed and - after stripping down to his boxers - climbed in with her. 

She curled up against him immediately, tucking herself into his side. Steve held her close and stroked her hair. He didn’t ask her how the rest of her day was, and he didn’t tell her that everything was going to be okay. If she wanted to offer anything, she would, and if she wanted him to tell her everything was going to be okay, she would ask.

“Steve?” she whispered.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” he smiled.

She raised her head and rested her chin on his chest, looking up at him.

“Are you happy? With me?”

“The happiest I’ve ever been,” he told her honestly, tucking a curl behind her ear.

“Even when I put flowers in your hair?”

“ _Especially_ when you put flowers in my hair,” he smiled.

She gave him a small smile.

“And you’d tell me if you weren’t happy, right?”

“I would,” he said seriously. “But I promise you have nothing to worry about on that front.”

“Okay.”

Steve saw her fight off a yawn, and he leaned forward to kiss her nose. 

“Sleep, my goddess,” he said softly.

“You can’t tell me what to do,” she murmured, though she rested her head on his chest anyway. “I can kick your ass.”

Steve laughed and hugged her tightly. 

“I know, sweetheart.”

As Peggy slowly drifted off, he noticed a red rose bloom in her hair. He gently picked the rose out of her hair, and admired it.

Though he’d never had a favourite flower, per say, Steve had never been fond of red roses. He used to think that they were cliché, overused. There were a variety of flowers that represented love, and yet these were the fall back of every single mortal to express their affection.

Now, he had to admit that they were his favourite flower without a doubt.

“Hey Peggy?” he whispered, setting the rose down.

Peggy made a small noise in the back of her throat, but otherwise didn’t respond.

“Sweetheart?” he tried again.

Nothing. Steve smiled and carefully carded his fingers through her hair.

“My goddess?”

Steve waited a few more moments, but she remained unresponsive.

“I love you.”

Peggy’s eyes suddenly snapped opened, and she lifted her head to look at him.

“What was that?”

Steve would’ve laughed at the wide-eyed look on her face if his heart hadn’t been racing.

“I love you,” he repeated.

Peggy’s lips slowly curled up into a smile.

“Say it again,” she whispered in an awed voice. 

The corners of his mouth twitched up.

“I love you, Peggy.”

“Again,” she grinned, and Steve found himself mirroring her. 

“I love you. I love every inch of you. Inside and out, I love you.”

Peggy’s entire face was lit up as she crawled up his body so her face was hovering over his.

“I love you too, my darling.”

Steve let out a tiny breath and pulled her down for a kiss, rolling them over so that Peggy was underneath him. He pulled away slightly, finding that a few new red roses had bloomed around them and in Peggy’s hair.

“At least I finally know why it’s red roses with you,” Peggy murmured.

Steve paused, raising his eyebrow.

“You mean it wasn’t always roses? I mean when you-”

“Not historically, no,” she said, her cheeks flushing a soft shade of pink. “Just with you.”

“Really?”

“There’s no need to look so smug, Steve,” she chastised him. 

“I’m not,” he told her, though he couldn’t suppress his grin.

“You’re a terrible liar,” she said, tangling her hands through his hair. “Now stop looking so damn pleased with yourself and kiss me.”

Steve didn’t have to be told twice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably my favourite chapter title just because the only people featured in this chapter who aren't in on the "love secret" are Steve and Peggy's direct family members. So it's accurate, but also very ironic.


	8. Achimenes (Rare Worth)

The next evening, Steve stood from where he had just been kneeling in front of Peggy’s kitchen table, gently moving her legs off his shoulders in the process. He decided that the slight ache in his knees was well worth it as he proudly took in the sight before him.

Peggy was laying back on the table, surrounded by dozens of red roses and not a stitch of clothing on her body, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.

“Are you alright, sweetheart?” Steve asked teasingly.

“You’re so bloody happy with yourself now aren’t you?” she accused, though her tone had no bite to it.

“What kind of person would I be if I didn’t take pleasure in my girlfriend’s pleasure?” he asked seriously.

Peggy flushed slightly more than she already was.

“Too much like all the other men I’ve been with,” she sighed ruefully.

Steve frowned as she raised her arms pointedly and he helped her sit up. Once she was steady, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her thoroughly, making sure that she got a proper taste of herself in his mouth. She moaned softly and wound her arms around his neck.

“I love pleasing you,” he whispered when he pulled away. “I love making you feel good.”

Peggy’s gaze softened and she kissed him tenderly.

“I know, my darling,” she told him, her mouth curling into a sly smile. “And if I didn’t before, you _certainly_ proved it just now.”

He gave her a wicked grin.

“Only the best for my best girl.”

Steve began kissing along her jaw, one of his hands moving to cup one of her breasts possessively. Peggy whimpered softly and Steve smiled against her skin while her hands pushed his jacket off his shoulders.

“You do realize that we eat on this table,” she chastised as he nibbled on her earlobe.

“Which is exactly what I just did,” he grinned. “Besides, you weren’t complaining a few minutes ago.”

Peggy gave him a hard look as she began undoing his tie.

“You’re insatiable,” she accused.

“So are you.”

“You love it.”

“I love _you_.”

“I love you too,” she grinned, pulling him to her by the now loose ends of his tie.

As their lips met in a heated kiss, his hands went to her wonderfully bare hips. He gave them a proper squeeze while her legs wrapped themselves around his waist.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered against her lips.

“And you’re wearing too many clothes,” she murmured back, her hands now efficiently working his shirt buttons open.

“See? Insatiable,” he grinned.

“Is that a complaint?” she asked, arching her eyebrow up at him.

“Nope.”

“Are you certain about that? Because I could stop.”

“That’s the last thing I want,” he told her as she finally got his shirt completely open.

“Tell me what you do want,” she whispered, her hands running up the expanse of his bare chest and abdomen without properly taking his shirt off.

It amazed Steve how much power she carried herself with despite the fact that out of the two of them, she was the one who was entirely naked and had been coming undone under his touch not even five minutes prior.

He loved her for it.

“You,” he answered. “Always you.”

“Only me?”

“Only you.”

Clearly pleased with his answer, her deft fingers swiftly undid his belt buckle while her lips met his again. He helped her push down his pants and boxers just enough for her to be able to free his length. Steve groaned as she wrapped her hand around him and guided him home.

He hadn’t been lying earlier when he’d told Peggy he loved making her feel good. If he never had another orgasm, it would be worth it just as long as he got to be the one - the _only_ one - who gave her this kind of pleasure for the rest of their eternal lives.

Steve tried not to think about how easy that thought came to him - the thought of forever with Peggy.

Back during the Titan War, Steve wasn’t sure he’d even live to see the age he was now, let alone live an eternal life - alone or otherwise.

But then he’d met Peggy, who had not only taken an interest in him, but actively made a place for herself in his life.

The thought of eternity alone now brought a painful feeling to his chest.

“ _Steve_ ,” Peggy moaned, her breaths shorter and quicker now.

He moved his hand between them to where she needed him most, circling his fingers until she fell apart. He held Peggy close to him as she came, her body shuddering against his as he rocked her through the waves, until his own release blissfully followed a dozen thrusts later.

He smiled lazily when she nuzzled her nose against his neck.

“I love you, my darling,” she murmured.

“I love you too.”

Steve could feel her smile against his neck.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing you say that.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of saying it,” he admitted with a soft smile.

Peggy tilted her head up and kissed him softly. He let his hands roam across her naked back as he finally pulled out, relishing in the goosebumps that appeared under his touch.

“Come on,” he whispered. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

* * *

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing,” Peggy told him later as they both lounged in the bath that Steve had drawn for them, her back against his chest.

“And what is it that you think I’m doing, sweetheart?” he asked, his nose nuzzling her temple.

“You’re pampering me.”

“I can’t believe you figured it out,” he whispered conspiratorially, a smile on his face.

“That wasn’t the tricky part, but it’s the reason why you’re doing it.”

“Because I want to spoil my girlfriend?”

“I will admit the gratuitous number of orgasms I’ve had the last few hours and this bath have been positively _divine_ ,” she mused, and Steve could hear the smile in her voice. “But you and I both know that’s not it. Not entirely.”

“Peggy…”

“Steve,” she said gently, turning her head to look up at him. “It’s not your fault. What happened between me and my mother.”

Steve tensed.

“I made things worse for you,” he said quietly.

Peggy detached herself from him and turned around in the bath to face him properly.

“Steve, I love my mother, but she came to my home with the intention to take away my responsibilities in the Mortal Realm. That’s not on you.”

“But if you hadn’t defended me when she called me the _scum that runs the Underworld_ , then things might not have exploded as much as they did,” he argued.

“So I was just supposed to let her disrespect you?” Peggy asked tartly.

“In that instance, yes.”

“And you really think I’d let that happen if I had a chance to stop it?” she frowned.

Steve sighed and ran a hand through his hair before crossing his arms.

“No… but I just - I _hated_ seeing you so upset after your fight with Amanda.”

“And you’re worried that you were part of the cause of me getting hurt,” she realized, her eyes softening.

His jaw tightened and he found himself unable to meet her eyes.

She awkwardly scooted forward as much as she could with the space constrictions of her bathtub to kneel in-between his legs, and gently pried his arms away from his chest so that she could hold his hands.

“Steve,” she said gently. “You know that my mother and I haven’t been on good terms in _decades_ , and there’s a reason for that. No matter how hard we try we just can’t seem to understand each other. That tension between us wasn’t created by you, nor were you the final nail in the proverbial coffin.”

Steve finally met her eyes, finding nothing but warmth and understanding in them.

“I know that you don’t like to see me upset, and that you hate it when there’s nothing you can do to fix it. But so long as I have you by my side, your hand in mine while I navigate it, that’s all I want.”

“You have me,” he promised fiercely, giving her hands a reassuring squeeze.

She gave him a soft smile.

“I know, my darling.”

Steve pulled her closer to him so that she could sit on his lap. She smiled and curled into him, placing her hand over his heart. He covered it with his own and intertwined their fingers, understanding her meaning perfectly.

 _You have me, too_.

“The water’s getting cold,” she told him.

“I can think of other ways to keep you warm, sweetheart.”

“Well I certainly hope your plan involves a massage. All that time on the table has left me sore.”

“I thought you were against me spoiling you,” he teased.

“It was the reason you were doing it for,” she corrected. “However now that we’ve solved that issue, your pampering is not only welcomed, but highly encouraged.”

“Is that so?” he asked amusedly.

“If you have the energy for it, old man,” she told him cheekily.

Steve laughed.

“Hey, this old man is a King, you little minx.”

“Oooo a _King?_ How _grand_ and _magnificent_ and-”

He didn’t give her a chance to finish her sentence before he was picking her up and teleporting them straight to her bed.

* * *

Much later, long after the moonlight had begun to filter in through the crack in the curtains, Steve was laying on his back, Peggy half-on top of him. He felt absolutely boneless and _content_.

“We need to do _that_ more often,” he told her, still a little breathless.

“We can do that every day when I come visit you if you like,” she answered through a yawn as she snuggled closer to him.

Even though he was ready for sleep, her words piqued his interest.

“You haven’t changed your mind? About coming to the Underworld?”

Peggy shifted so that she could cup his face in her hands before kissing him slowly and thoroughly, making his toes curl. He let out a soft moan and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

“Not for one second,” she whispered when she finally pulled back.

“Then let’s go.”

“What, now?” she asked amusedly as she settled herself back down, her head on his chest. “I think we may cause quite the scandal if we show up like this.”

“We’ll probably cause a scandal no matter what,” he told her, his fingertips tracing her spine.

“I suppose you’re right,” she sighed, placing a kiss to his collarbone. “Though we should at least tell your friends about us first. And give them some time to recover from the shock.”

“Well, actually,” he began slowly. “Natasha already knows.”

Peggy lifted her head sharply, her eyes wide with concern.

“Don’t worry,” he assured her quickly. “She only found out yesterday and honestly she took it so well I’d say she’s thrilled.”

Her expression relaxed, but she raised her eyebrow at him.

“Thrilled?”

“As thrilled as Natasha’s capable of being,” he admitted.

Peggy gave him a small smile.

“That’s reassuring.”

“And we don’t have to worry about Bucky,” Steve said confidently. “He’s always thought I should be with a girl who could kick my ass.”

“And don’t you forget it, your Majesty.”

“I could never,” he promised with a grin.

She chuckled.

“You know, now seems a good time for me to tell Angie as well.”

“Angie?” he asked cautiously.

“She already knows I’m seeing someone. In fact, she’s helped run interference with my mother a few times on our behalf,” Peggy explained.

“But she doesn’t know that you’re seeing _me_.”

“Steve,” Peggy frowned. “She’s my best friend. Even if she doesn’t understand - which she will - she’ll be on our side.”

“Okay,” he conceded.

While Steve still had his doubts - as anyone who had lived half his life would - he trusted Peggy wholeheartedly.

“So tomorrow I’ll tell Angie.”

“I’ll tell Bucky. And then you’ll come home with me?”

“And then I’ll come home with you,” Peggy grinned.

* * *

Two days later, Steve arrived at the door of Peggy’s home, ready to take her to the Underworld. Since she was no longer _required_ in the Mortal Realm, and they had Sam and Angie to run any interference on Olympus, they’d settled on her spending an entire week with him.

The small voice in the back of his head kept warning Steve that it would be too much for her all at once, but he did his best to shut it out. Peggy loved him, and unlike many (if not all) of his past romantic relationships, Steve knew that her love wasn’t conditional.

“You’re late,” Peggy chided half-heartedly when she opened the door, but she gave him a brilliant smile that made his heart stutter.

“I was making everything perfect for you, sweetheart,” he quipped easily, pecking her lips when she tilted her head up in his direction.

He carefully adjusted her grevillea flower crown, a perfect compliment for her floor-length, long-sleeved turquoise coloured dress.

“How thoughtful of you, your Majesty,” she grinned at him as she led him into the living room.

The last thing he expected, however, was to find Angie sitting in Peggy’s arm chair.

The fact that she’d taken the news of their relationship well did little to abate the spike of anxiousness he felt at her presence. While he and Angie had always gotten along in their minimal interaction, she was also the most important person in Peggy’s life. After the fallout with Amanda, Steve knew that now more than ever Peggy needed her best friend by her side, and the last thing he wanted was to hinder that, even unintentionally.

“How are you, Angie?” he asked politely.

“Oh I’m just peachy Stevie,” she told him with a smirk, standing from the chair. “But before you two go play house, we need to have a little chat.”

“Angie, please don’t do this,” Peggy groaned, her cheeks turning pink with embarrassment.

“I want you to keep her happy,” Angie told Steve sternly, ignoring Peggy’s plea.

“I aim to do nothing less,” he told her honestly.

“You damn better.”

“ _Angie._ ”

“Not now, English, this is just between me and your main squeeze.”

“Yes, I don’t know how I got the idea that I could possibly be involved,” Peggy muttered dryly with a roll of her eyes.

Steve gave her an adoring smile before turning back to Angie.

“I mean it,” Angie threatened Steve as she stalked toward him with purpose and poked his chest forcefully. “We both know that Peggy is the best of the best, and therefore deserves the best that the cosmos has to offer.”

“She does,” Steve agreed. “I know I haven’t known Peggy for long-”

“You’ve known her for a little over three weeks,” Angie interrupted.

Peggy, who had realized that she wouldn’t be given any say in this conversation, simply glared at Angie and made a small noise of dissent.

“I know,” he continued on, focusing on Angie. “But I also know without a shadow of a doubt that there is no being in the entire cosmos that will ever be worthy of her. She can have anyone she wants, and for some reason she chose me. I can’t offer her everything, but I plan on spending every minute that she continues to choose me making her as happy as I possibly can.”

Angie’s gaze pierced his eyes for a few moments, as though attempting to dissect his true intention.

“You know,” she said slowly. “These last few weeks she’s been happy and grossly in love.”

“Angie,” Peggy hissed.

“Yeah?” Steve asked knowingly, trying to contain the smile on his face from growing any further. 

“I want it to stay that way.”

“Me too.”

“Good, because I’ll kick your ass if you hurt her. I don’t care what you’re the King of,” Angie threatened sweetly.

“I have no doubt about that,” he smiled. “But you’ll be second in line. Peggy’s not the type to take that kind of thing lying down.”

Angie grinned widely.

“Don’t I know it,” she snorted. “She started to order you around yet?”

“From the moment I met her,” Steve told her, his dreamy tone causing Angie to grin and Peggy to groan audibly.

Steve knew just how much was riding on Angie being on board with their relationship, but he also knew that they were the two beings who knew Peggy the best, and the one thing that could unite them was their love for her.

Peggy huffed and crossed her arms.

“Unbelievable. Hardly five minutes in and you’re already conspiring against me,” she complained, but the slight upward twitch of her lips gave her away.

“Don’t take it personally, English. We’ve known each other longer than you’ve been alive,” she teased before turning back to Steve. “She ever tell you about the first time she visited the Mortal Realm?”

Steve raised his eyebrow and smirked.

“No she hasn’t.”

“And you won’t hear it,” Peggy intervened quickly. “Because we are scheduled to be in the Underworld right now, aren’t we darling?"

“But I want to hear the story,” he pouted dramatically. “Besides, I’m the King. I make the schedule down there.”

Angie laughed.

“Oh I like him,” she announced, turning to Peggy. “You’re keeping him.”

“Not that that was ever in question, but are you both quite done conspiring against me?” Peggy asked.

Angie snickered.

“Not even close,” Angie winked. “But don’t worry, you two can go shack up now.”

“You’re absolutely awful,” Peggy told her.

“It’s why you keep me around,” Angie winked. “Now have fun, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“That really doesn’t narrow anything down,” Peggy quipped, a large smile on her face.

Angie laughed heartily and hugged her friend tightly. She gave Steve a significant look over Peggy’s shoulder. Steve nodded in understanding as they pulled apart.

“See ya,” Angie winked before teleporting out.

Peggy’s shoulders sagged slightly in relief, but Steve couldn’t help but smile. He now had some idea of what Sam had meant.

“I’m sorry I didn’t warn you,” Peggy told him. “She showed up very shortly before you did with the intent to ‘see us off’, as she put it.”

Steve grabbed her hand and pulled her to him.

“I don’t mind. I like that she cares about you that much.”

Peggy pondered his words for a moment before suddenly and without warning, pulling him down by the lapels of his jacket and kissing him soundly. Steve let out a muffled noise of surprise but wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her off her feet when she deepened the kiss.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what was _that_ for?” he murmured when he set her down after a few long minutes.

“You deserve me,” she whispered. “You _more_ than deserve me. Okay?”

Steve couldn’t help but give her a small, warm smile.

“Okay,” he whispered.

Peggy kissed him tenderly again, holding him tighter against her. Steve eventually and reluctantly pulled back. He chuckled when she chased his lips.

“Later,” he promised. “We have a whole week together, after all.”

“Oh alright,” she sighed dramatically, a mischievous twinkle in her eye as she traced her finger along his chest. “Now tell me, my darling King, how do we get to the Underworld?”

“Well lucky for you, my dear goddess, you’re travelling with royalty. Which means we get to take the express route.”

Peggy’s nose scrunched up with delight as he picked up her duffle bag.

“What an honour.”

“You’ll need to hold on tight,” he told her, wrapping the arm that wasn’t holding her duffle bag around her waist.

“Oh if I must,” she sighed dramatically, but wound her arms around his neck.

“It’ll only take a few seconds, but the first time can be disorienting,” he warned her. “Keeping your eyes closed helps.”

Peggy nodded and closed her eyes. Steve tightened his hold on her.

“Ready?” he asked.

“With you? Always.”

“Here we go,” he smiled.

Steve took a breath and closed his eyes, focusing on his destination. He felt a familiar fluttering sensation sweep over him. When he opened his eyes again a few seconds later, they were just outside the Underworld proper, beside the River Styx.

“Why is everything _inside_ my head spinning?” Peggy groaned loudly as she swayed a bit, her eyes still closed.

Steve guided her head to rest on his shoulder and held her closely as she was still a bit uneasy on her feet.

“Teleporting between realms is more taxing than teleporting within the same realm.”

“This never happens when I go to and from the Mortal Realm.”

“Any god can teleport to the Mortal Realm. There are more security measures in place to get to the Underworld. Give it a few seconds, it’ll pass,” he promised.

“Next time, we’re taking your motorcycle,” she muttered. “I don’t care if the entirety of Olympus discovers that we’re dating.”

Steve did his best to suppress a chuckle and kissed her hair gently.

“Whatever you wish, my goddess.”

Soon after, she lifted her head off his shoulder and blinked her eyes open.

“Better?” he asked as she lowered her arms from his neck.

“Immensely,” she told him, before moving a step back to take good look at their surroundings - the River Styx to their left, the sunless sky above them, and the massive stone wall to their right. “This is it?” she frowned.

He chuckled.

“We’re just outside the Underworld. I promised you a grand reveal, after all.”

“The grand reveal just for me?”

“But of course, my goddess.”

Peggy blushed, but her grin remained even as she shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. Steve immediately shrugged his jacket off and helped Peggy put it on.

“Sorry, I should have warned you about the cold.”

Peggy grinned widely and tugged the jacket tighter around her.

“If this is the result, I can’t say I entirely mind.”

“My clothes do seem to suit you,” he told her, making a show of adjusting the way it sat on her shoulders.

A bark in the distance cut off her reply. Steve’s eyes widened slightly as Cerberus, who had sensed an abnormal presence in the Kingdom, appeared from around the corner and began bolting toward them.

Steve went to take a step forward to stop him when Peggy held him back.

“Can I?” she asked.

He frowned but let Peggy take a step forward toward Cerberus, who halted barely a foot in front of her when she put her hand up. At his full size, his heads were towering almost ten feet above her own. His three heads each let out a low growl and leaned down to sniff her raised hand. Slowly, and while keeping eye contact with his centre head, she extended that hand to pet it.

The change was instant.

Cerberus sized down so that his heads were at the same height as Peggy’s. His tail wagged avidly and one of his heads even let out a little yip. Steve watched in awe as Peggy began to coo at Cerberus and shower him with affection. For his part, Cerberus happily (and greedily) accepted everything Peggy gave him, and even begged for more.

Her eyes suddenly widened in horror, and Steve knew exactly what she had just realized.

Three heads. Two hands.

Steve watched her expression become panicked as she tried to solve this conundrum. However, each time she tried to switch her hands to another head, the one that it had just left began to whimper. Peggy tried to compensate by lifting her leg to pet the third head, and when that didn’t work, she used her head - literally.

The sight of Peggy contorting her body just to properly pet Cerberus was beyond anything Steve could’ve imagined. He couldn’t help it, he let out a genuine, hearty laugh.

Peggy’s head turned sharply toward him, her eyes narrowed.

“This is _not_ funny Steve.”

“It’s precious,” he told her.

“Precious doesn’t help. I need more arms,” she whined.

Steve finally took pity on her. He let out a low-pitched whistle, and Cerberus responded immediately. He shrunk to the size of a small dog and leapt into Peggy’s arms. She let out a small yelp as all his heads began licking her face with fervour, but it wasn’t long before she was giggling delightedly.

“Now stop, this is becoming rather indecent,” she chastised Cerberus half-heartedly.

Steve almost wasn’t surprised when Cerberus immediately listened to her.

“Look at you. Not so scary now, are you? You just wanted kisses and cuddles,” Peggy cooed, causing Cerberus’ tail to wag enthusiastically.

“He loves them,” Steve told her.

“What a coincidence, so do I,” she grinned at Cerberus. “Does this mean you’re coming along with us on the tour?”

“No,” he informed her.

Both of them let out a small whimper.

“Please?” she asked, holding Cerberus up so his heads were beside hers.

Having both of them pouting together was more than enough to melt Steve’s heart, but he remained solid in his stance.

“Cerberus has a job to do, and no amount of pouting from either of you is going to change that.”

Both of them whimpered again and Steve sighed.

“If it makes you feel better, he’s always home for dinner and he likes to sleep in the bed with me.”

Cerberus barked in agreement.

“Oh alright,” Peggy conceded begrudgingly.

Steve watched her kiss all three of Cerberus’ heads in turn, and give him one last hug before setting him down. He grew back to his largest form and barked happily at Peggy before trotting off to return to his regular rounds. Steve shook his head slightly in disbelief.

“I’ve never seen him warm up to someone that fast,” Steve told Peggy after he was out of sight.

“I am wearing your jacket,” she shrugged. “That probably helped.”

“Maybe that’s part of it, but he’s also really good judge of character.”

“So am I,” she told him, a twinkle in her eye.

“Lucky me,” he grinned before offering his arm. “Shall we, my goddess?”

“We shall, my King,” she accepted.

As they approached the main gate, Loki approached the land with his boat as he travelled down the River Styx, his boat filled with new souls to be judged.

Once his boat had reached the shore - and with no prompting, Peggy walked right up to Loki and introduced herself to him. Though Loki looked wary at her presence, he introduced himself in return before instructing the souls to get off the boat and go to the building directly in front of them.

Steve joined in Loki’s continuing curiosity as Peggy began greeting every soul individually and wishing them well as they were shepherded out of the boat. She even made sure to hold each of their hands briefly, as though trying to transfer hope through her touch.

Each of the souls gawked at Peggy, and Steve didn’t blame them. In a realm with a sunless sky that was steeped with death, the last thing anyone could expect was to be greeted by a cheery, beautiful spring goddess.

The second to last soul to exit the boat was a child. She was no more than four years old, and looking particularly shaken and fearful.

Steve’s mouth formed a thin line. It wasn’t uncommon, but the look on Peggy’s face when she saw the little girl made his heart ache.

Peggy kneeled down in front of the child, giving her a warm smile.

“Hi there,” Peggy said softly. “My name is Peggy. What’s your name?”

“Sarah,” she said quietly.

There was a moment of silence before the child spoke again.

“I’m scared.”

“I understand. This is my first time here too, and new places can be scary.”

Peggy produced a protea flower, and handed it to the girl.

“This is for courage,” she told her. “Hold it tight and everything will be alright.”

Sarah nodded and clutched it in her right hand. Then, without warning, she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Peggy’s neck.

Peggy let out a small squeak but hugged back her tightly. Steve tried to ignore the way his stomach was doing flips at the sight.

“Thank you,” Sarah mumbled.

“You’re welcome, Sarah. You have to go now, but everything will be just fine.”

As they pulled apart, the short, stocky woman with bright green eyes behind Sarah gave Peggy a small smile.

“I’ll look after her until the Judgement,” she told Peggy.

“Thank you,” Peggy said sincerely.

Steve offered Peggy a hand to stand, and they watched the last two souls make their way toward their Judgement.

When they were gone, he turned to Loki.

“Anything new to report?”

“Quite the same, old friend. Though I now have reason to believe that things around here may become more lively, so to speak,” Loki responded with a smirk, his gaze directed at Peggy.

“Tell me, Loki, have you been sitting on that this whole time, or did you just come up with it?” Peggy quipped.

“For guests I always ensure to make my banter fresh.”

“Well I certainly hope you get paid extra for your troubles.”

“Now that you mention it, I’d appreciate it if you put a word in with my superior. Something tells me you’d have a better chance at convincing him than I would.”

“I’ll see what I can do. I’ve been told I can be quite persuasive,” she winked.

The raven haired man paused and considered her for a moment. Slowly, Loki’s smirk turned into a small, but nearly genuine smile.

“Well, Peggy, as fun as this has been, I must be getting back. No rest for the wicked, after all,” he said before tilting his head toward Steve. “Your Majesty.”

Steve took Peggy’s hand as they watched Loki depart back on the River Styx the way he came.

“I like him,” Peggy told Steve once Loki was out of earshot.

“Really?” Steve asked, trying not to sound incredulous.

Steve liked Loki, for the most part. But no matter how long Steve had known him, he could never completely figure Loki out, which didn’t necessarily instil the strongest trust.

“Men like him are easier to read than you think,” she replied by way of explanation.

Steve hummed thoughtfully.

“Can I ask you something about the souls?” Peggy asked as they walked toward the front gates hand in hand.

“Of course.”

“Can you tell right away? What their fate is, I mean.”

“Most of the time I can sense it, in a way. But we always make sure to take a good look at their lives before making any decisions.”

“So Sarah-”

“Will be just fine,” he promised.

“I’m glad,” she told him. “Wait, shouldn’t you be in that room right now? Being judge and jury?”

“Normally I try to be there, but when I can’t, I have others who I trust to handle that.”

“Alright,” she said, smiling up at him. “I’m ready for the grand reveal now, my darling.”

Steve squeezed her hand.

“Welcome to the Underworld, my goddess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grevillea (also known as spider flowers) are a sign of faith (and true love), and as Peggy said, protea flowers mean courage


	9. Iris (Faith)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is somewhat of a transitional chapter as Peggy gets introduced to the Underworld. Each area of the Underworld is described based on content from some existing texts, but I added my own personal touches to each location to give it a bit more personality.

Just as he’d promised her, Steve had arranged every last detail for Peggy’s arrival to the Underworld. He would act as her personal guide and show her every part of his Realm.

Everywhere except Tartarus.

Some things were best left unseen.

“Wow,” Peggy murmured as they walked through the tall black gates.

“Is that a good wow?”

She gave him a knowing smile.

“You know, my mother sometimes told me stories about the Underworld when I was growing up.”

“I’m sure she was quite _colourful_ in her descriptions.”

Peggy snorted, but didn’t deny it.

“I knew she had to be exaggerating - as she does with most things - and I was always extremely curious about this mysterious Realm that I was forbidden to visit. I tried to imagine it for myself but I never thought it would be like this.”

“You still haven’t told me whether that’s good or bad,” he pointed out, suddenly feeling uncharacteristically nervous.

“Steve it’s… beautiful,” she smiled at him, and he felt his shoulders relax. “Even without a sun in the sky it doesn’t feel miserable because of the stars - or star imitations. The ground is soft - if not a touch cold, mind you. And it feels… _vast_. I mean I knew this place had to be huge to accommodate so many souls but I can _feel_ it under my feet. It feels like it goes on forever.”

“It’s larger than Olympus even without counting the lower-depths of Tartarus.”

“And we’re going to visit all of it?” she grinned.

“We’re going to see all of it, but we won’t be teleporting. You can’t take it all in properly if you’re just popping in and out.”

“So we’re going to walk everywhere?” she teased. “Your royal pull only get you so far in terms of travel arrangements, your Majesty?”

“I should make you walk just for that comment,” he quipped. “But then I’d miss your face when you see what our ride is.”

She arched her eyebrow up at him before following his gaze to the side of the Judgement Building, her jaw dropping slightly.

“Your motorcycle!” she squealed, dropping his hand as she ran over to it.

“I figured since you wouldn’t stop talking about it, you’d like a chance to ride it,” he told her with a grin, taking a moment to send her duffle bag straight to his home while she admired the motorcycle.

“That’s only because you refused to send me a picture of you on your motorcycle. I was starting to believe that it wasn’t real.”

“Why would I make up having a motorcycle?” he asked amusedly.

“To impress me, obviously.”

“Being a King isn’t enough?”

“That’s old news,” she informed him as she took a seat, looking right at home on his bike. “But this? This is new, and _very_ thrilling.”

“I’m glad you think so,” he smirked. "But we have one thing to see before we ride.”

Steve walked over to the side door of the Judgement Building and opened it for her.

“If we must,” she sighed dramatically as she hopped off the bike.

“You were the one who wanted the grand tour,” he reminded her.

She rolled her eyes but had a large smile on her face as he led her up a staircase and to a viewing room so she had a bird’s eye view of the official court. The internal structure of the building was the same as when he’d inherited it, but like everything else in the Underworld, Steve had redecorated and revamped it. It wasn’t necessarily warm and friendly, but its dark red and gold accents was a far cry from the grim dungeon-like place it used to be.

The Furies: Gamora, Nebula, and Mantis were currently standing on the platform at the end of the room, doling out the verdicts of the Judgement. Later they would oversee any necessary punishments.

“You have a throne?” Peggy asked giddily in an unnecessarily hushed whisper.

“It was a gift from Tony,” he shrugged. “Besides, I thought my being a King was old news.”

“Yes but you have a legitimate _throne_ made of _gold_.”

“So do Tony and Bruce.”

“Well I’m not dating either of them, now am I?”

“You better not be,” he frowned.

Peggy laughed softly and shook her head reassuringly, lacing her fingers through his for good measure.

Sarah was called forward just as Peggy turned her attention back to the Judgement. She inhaled sharply and squeezed his hand.

While Steve knew her outcome, he didn’t say a word as Gamora stepped forward and placed her hand on Sarah’s head. Each of the Furies closed their eyes and inhaled slowly, but otherwise remained silent.

Their eyes suddenly opened in unison.

“Elysium,” Mantis declared.

Gamora nodded ever so slightly and then removed her hand from Sarah’s head. The next moment, she faded away.

Peggy lurched forward.

“What-”

“They sent her straight to Elysium,” Steve reassured her quickly. “She’s alright.”

“Good,” Peggy breathed out, her shoulders dropping in relief. “You were right.”

“I usually am.”

“Except for when I’m right,” she quipped. “Which is most of the time.”

Steve hummed as though he was thinking hard about it, and she pinched his side in retaliation, a small but mischievous smile on her face.

“What are you smiling about?”

“I want to sit on your throne.”

“You want to sit on my throne?”

“Of course. When else will I get the opportunity to sit on a real throne?”

“You do realize the Judgement is still in session?”

“But I can later?” she asked knowingly.

Steve couldn’t help but smile.

“Yes, sweetheart. You can sit on my throne later.”

“Thank you, darling,” she grinned triumphantly. “In the meantime, I’ll accept a ride to our next destination.”

“You just want to ride my motorcycle,” he smirked.

“Obviously. You’ve kept me waiting long enough.”

Steve had to admit that once Peggy was settled in behind him, her arms wrapped around his waist, chin tucked over his shoulder, he couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t done this sooner.

* * *

Their next stop was the office building.

“The Underworld is growing every day with the constant influx of new souls,” he explained to Peggy as they walked into the modern-high rise structure. In comparison to the Judgement Building, it was newer, more modern, and miles busier. “Which means we are always shifting to adapt - a never-ending task. This building serves as the headquarters for all operations related to management, operations, and the like.”

“Sounds like you have your system all perfected.”

“Most of the time.”

“And here I thought you were perfect. How disappointing.”

“You’re hilarious.”

“Glad you’re finally coming to realize it, darling,” she quipped with her bright grin that never failed to make him smile back.

As they walked up to his office, Steve couldn’t help but notice how every head turned to look at their arrival, and how Peggy slowly pressed her side against his more and more as they walked. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and discreetly gave every starer a glare that had them quickly averting their gaze.

“Everyone is staring at me,” Peggy told him as soon as they were in the elevator alone.

“Well it’s not every day we have someone here who’s glowing brighter than the literal sky here.”

“All gods glow, love.”

“But none as bright as you.”

“Are you really flirting with me right now?”

“Aren’t I always?” he smirked.

“Save that energy for later, my darling. When every eye isn’t trying to bore a hole in my skull.”

“They’re just curious,” he said as they stepped off the elevator. “Other than Natasha, Bucky, and occasionally Sam, no other god has stepped foot inside this building - and none of the former have ever held my hand while doing so.”

“Their loss.”

Steve smiled fondly and opened the door to his office.

“Floor to ceiling windows?” she asked knowingly.

“You saw them from the outside.”

“Well it’s different from seeing them from the _inside_. I now have to develop a more informed opinion about them.”

“You’re having fun, aren’t you?”

“Of course,” she winked. “Every now and again it’s fun to see you a little bit flustered and not the confident, brooding man I know.”

Steve snorted and shook his head fondly.

“You really do have a lovely view,” Peggy said honestly as she walked right up to the window. “Do you spend a lot of time in here?”

“Every morning if I can help it. This way I can check in with Natasha and anyone else knows where to find me at this time. Then I make rounds and deal with things as necessary.”

Peggy hummed thoughtfully and then looked toward his desk chair.

“Can I sit on your big official office chair?”

“I thought you wanted to sit on my throne?”

“Yes but this will tide me over until I actually get to do that,” she grinned.

“I thought that was the motorcycle ride was for.”

“You know when you told me I was to receive the whole tour of the Underworld I didn’t expect it to come with this much lip.”

“Lip is always part of the package when you’re dating me,” he smirked.

“In more ways than one,” she winked. “Now answer the question, darling.”

Steve pulled out the chair for her.

“Be my guest.”

“Now this is _wonderful_ ,” she told him as she took a seat and spun around in the chair. “I feel powerful just sitting here.”

“I’m glad,” he chuckled.

As the chair slowed to a stop, her eyes were drawn to the vase on his desk that held all of the flowers that she’d ever gifted him.

“You kept them?” she asked in an awed voice.

“Of course.”

“ _Steve_ ,” she said, voice thick with emotion. “You really kept them all?”

“I wanted to have a part of you with me down here,” he shrugged.

Peggy’s face lit up. She stood from the chair and pulled him into her embrace. Without hesitation he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Well now you’ll have me down here with you for a whole week.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“Me too,” she grinned, nuzzling her nose against his.

“Well isn’t this a sweet sight.”

They both turned to face the door, where Natasha was leaning against the doorframe. Neither of them bothered to move from their current position.

“Hello Natasha,” Peggy said cheerily. “I love the new hair cut.”

“Hi Peggy. Nice jacket,” Natasha smirked, though her eyes were kind.

“Thank you, it was a gift,” Peggy replied easily, grinning up at Steve.

“A gift?” he asked amusedly.

“Of course. You wouldn’t want me to return it immediately only for me to get cold and need it again, would you? Which means that it’s best that I keep it for the time being.”

“Peggy does have a point,” Natasha agreed. “We can’t have her be cold, she’s a very important guest, after all.”

“Which makes me wonder if one jacket will be enough, darling. I will be here for an entire week.”

“She’ll probably need a second one. Or better yet, maybe even a sweater or two.”

“You’re absolutely right. Steve, you are so incredibly lucky to have Natasha here.”

“I tell him that all the time,” she smirked. “You know, if at any point this week you get tired of his royal highness, you can spend some time with me and I’ll tell you all about how often I save his ass.”

“Oh that sounds delightful. It’s been too long since we’ve had tea together anyhow,” Peggy grinned.

“Who’s conspiring against who now?” Steve asked Peggy with a raised eyebrow.

“Turnabout is certainly fair play, darling,” she grinned, patting his cheek twice.

While she pressed a playful kiss to his jaw, Steve looked over at Natasha. She was looking at them with approval in her eyes.

Approval, and something else he couldn’t quite name.

* * *

“This is where most souls spend their afterlife,” Steve explained as they walked through the Asphodel Meadows. “Ones that didn’t commit any significant crime, but who also didn’t achieve greatness.”

“Very medium,” Peggy agreed as she took in the ground that was covered part in asphodel flowers, part in ashes, the resident souls going about their regular tasks around them.

“It’s nothing special, and at the end of the day it’s pretty similar to the Mortal Realm,” he admitted.

“I think it’s fitting.”

“Even though the fact that there’s only one kind of plant-life here is killing you a little bit?” he asked with a knowing smile. “That and the fact that we both know you could grow them much better?”

“You said it, not me.”

* * *

“Now this place is certainly living up to its name,” Peggy muttered as they walked through the Mourning Fields. “It’s not just the extra chill or the eerie fog. Every soul we’ve seen has been crying.”

“Every soul in here wasted their life on unrequited love, which is _why_ they’re sent here to wander for the rest of eternity.”

“How awful.”

Steve stopped walking when he saw Peggy tugging his jacket tighter around herself.

“Hey, are you alright?” he asked softly.

“It just seems like such a terrible way to live and die,” she said quietly as she watched a very faded middle-aged female soul walk past them with hardly a glance. “Without love.”

“Peggy, these are people who couldn’t think of anything other than _unrequited_ love, and used that as the only motivator for their actions. Not only did they hurt themselves and stop themselves from doing any actual good, they hurt those that did care about them by being able to see nothing else.”

“Still…” Peggy said. “To continue to suffer like this even after death seems…”

“Cruel?”

“I wasn’t going to say that.”

“You were thinking it.”

“It’s nothing against you or this place,” she clarified, meeting his eyes. “And I understand that they were sent here for a reason.”

“But you still want to help them?”

“Of course I do! I wasn’t raised to just stand around while there were others in need.”

“Peggy, these souls were beyond saving when they were alive, and we can’t change their fate now. You can’t save everyone.”

Peggy pursed her lips as she took in his words. After another look around the Fields, she suddenly out a small gasp and turned back to Steve.

“I know that face,” he smiled.

“I have an idea - one that I promise won’t disrupt the entire order of things. If you don’t mind staying here just a touch longer, that is?”

“We can stay as long as you like, sweetheart,” he told her fondly, curious at to what she had in mind.

Peggy held his hand as they continued their walk through the Fields. Every time they encountered a wandering, weeping soul, she would produce a new light purple lilac and gift it to them.

On each face Steve would register the same shock, confusion, and then, for the smallest moment, a genuine smile. Even though they all had to return to their punishment almost immediately and they would most likely forget this event within a year, for a moment, Steve saw just how profoundly Peggy had affected their afterlives.

“I know it isn’t much, and there’s nothing we can do about their fate,” Peggy told him as they walked back to his motorcycle. “But my hope was to give them even just a brief moment of happiness.”

“You did.”

“Okay,” she smiled, adding a slight swing to their joined hands.

“Come on, I think you’ll like the next place better than this.”

“I’m certain that as long as it isn’t Tartarus I’d like any place more than this one.”

Steve chuckled as he felt Peggy give his hand a squeeze.

* * *

They visited Elysium and the Isles of the Blessed last.

He watched closely as Peggy took in every detail. The houses were tailored to each soul’s desires, and there were various communal spaces for all the souls to share and socialize. There was even an imitation of sunlight and a clear blue sky and an attempt at proper landscaping.

As grand and idyllic as he and Natasha had built it to be, it was still a work in progress. Steve had provided nearly everything that a soul could wish for, but after all these centuries, there was still a certain something missing in Elysium that he hadn’t been able to quite figure out how to achieve.

“It’s gorgeous here,” Peggy mused as they walked around hand in hand. “And blessedly warmer than the rest of the Underworld - no offence.”

Steve smiled knowingly.

“This is where those who achieved greatness in their lifetime get sent,” he explained. “If we were to make any place comfortably warm, it would he here.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, why did Sarah get sent here? I don’t doubt she’s good, but she’s also only four years old.”

“You don’t think a four year old can achieve greatness?” he smirked. “Greatness can come from many things, and any person can achieve greatness. Sometimes all it takes is one decision.”

“Well, then good for her,” she murmured, her tone soft and honest.

Peggy’s toes slowly curled up slightly, her lips turning downward. She flicked her wrist up without a thought, a movement that Steve recognized from previous times that he’d seen her create life. As though suddenly realizing what she was doing, Peggy stopped halfway through the motion and dropped her hand. Steve tilted his head curiously.

“Go ahead,” he prompted.

“I don’t want to overstep,” she said, her cheeks turning a soft shade of pink.

“You’re not. It’s my Kingdom, isn’t it?”

Peggy nodded tentatively, her teeth worrying her lower lip.

“I want you to,” he assured her. “Please?”

Peggy searched his eyes for a moment, and upon finding them sincere, she raised her hand anew. With it rose a tall apple tree that was in full bloom. The grass below and around it grew to become lusher and fuller. It was a stark contrast to the rest of the paler grass that existed in Elysium.

No matter how much plant life Natasha grew, none could grow to be as luscious as this in the first place. The new tree and grass almost seemed out of place amongst everything else, but it felt like they’d always belonged there.

Slowly, tentatively, he reached out and put his hand on the tree trunk. He almost pulled it back when it didn’t wilt.

No living plant life in the Underworld ever survived his bare touch.

Until now.

“Peggy, this is… this is incredible,” he told her, taking in how the tree fit into the general scenery.

“Mother always said that a place isn’t quite home without an apple tree. It’s a bit silly, but it’s one of those things that just sort of stuck.”

“It’s a homey touch. This place needs more of it,” Steve mused out loud, his thumb gently rubbing the bark of the tree.

_Still alive._

“Home is different for everyone, but there’s something about nature that’s universal. It’s comforting, relaxing, it doesn’t judge. Now, I’m biased as the goddess of spring, but I think every home needs at least a little bit of that.”

Steve found his lips growing into a large smile. How hadn’t he figured it out sooner?

“I think this place needs _a lot_ more of that.”

Peggy turned around to face him.

“Pardon?”

“Nat and I have been trying to think of ways to improve Elysium for centuries. With one wave of your hand you’ve done more than what we could do in a day. Peggy, _you’re_ what Elysium needs.”

“What are you saying?” she asked cautiously.

“I want you to work on Elysium. Bring life to it, make it a proper _home_ for every soul here.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I am. Completely.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“Shouldn’t we at least have an official meeting where I pitch you my ideas? Then you could make a decision.”

“My decision’s already made. You have free reign.”

Peggy gaped at him, shaking her head slightly in disbelief.

“ _Steve_.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” he added quickly. “Or if it makes you uncomfortable. There’s no expectation or pressure for you to take the job.”

“It’s not that,” she reassured him. “It’s just that… I think about my place in the cosmos quite often, even more so since I haven’t been allowed to work in the Mortal Realm.”

Steve took a step forward as she wrapped her arms around herself.

“Yeah?”

“Everyone seems to have such a clear grasp on what role they play. Clint brings about the warmth and light of day and the peace and rest of night. Pepper can bless mortal marriages. And _you_ , Steve. You are in charge of the ever-growing Realm and I’ve seen firsthand the results of your hard work and dedication. Everything you do here is so _inspiring_.”

She took a deep breath before continuing.

“I don’t want to end up like the mortals in the Mourning Fields, wasting my life - my _eternal_ life - on something fruitless. I want to contribute to something great, something _important_.”

“Peggy, you already contribute-”

“Flowers? Plants? The occasional tree?” she interrupted, arching her eyebrow up sharply. “Yes how _grand_.”

Despite her self-deprecating tone, Steve gave her a soft smile and reached for her hands.

“You have something that a lot of the other gods have lost over the course of their long lives. Something I thought I lost, too. _Compassion_. That’s a greater gift than anyone gives credit for.”

“I don’t deny that it’s a good thing, but it feels so small in the grand scheme of things.”

“Just because it’s small doesn’t mean it isn’t great. A moment of kindness, like someone with warm brown eyes and a kind, radiant smile giving you a flower, can change your life. At least, that’s my experience.”

“Flirt,” she murmured with a shy smile, her cheeks turning a soft pink.

“Just how you like me,” he winked.

She laughed softly and looked down at their joined hands.

“You’re absolutely certain about this?”

“With everything I am,” he said with conviction. “This might not be your ultimate purpose or destiny, but you have excelled at everything I’ve seen you do. We both know that you’re capable of greatness. And I mean the kind of greatness that even the other gods would all envy.”

Peggy’s entire face brightened before she threw her arms around him.

“I won’t let you down,” she promised.

“You never could,” he said, hugging her tightly to him.

* * *

The true last stop of the tour was Steve’s own house.

“Oh you’ve _got_ to be kidding me.”

“What?” he asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“This place is _huge_. Your house is ten times the size of mine,” she exclaimed as she got off the motorcycle, Steve trailing behind her.

“It’s a modern home that-”

“It’s practically a miniature palace! You could play hide and seek in here and not be found for _days_.”

Steve laughed and opened the door for Peggy, who was practically bouncing with anticipation. Her jaw dropped at the sight of the living room.

“So this is the true meaning of luxury,” she murmured, walking inside and inspecting everything, from the couches to the fireplace.

Steve snorted. Clearly she hadn’t ever seen Tony or Bruce’s homes. In fact, it was Tony’s influence that lead to Steve’s house being as large and grandiose as it was. If he’d had his way, his home would have been closer to the size of Peggy’s.

“What do you think?”

“You can’t just ask me that when I’ve hardly stepped through the door, Steve. I need to look at everything if I’m to make a fully informed opinion,” she told him seriously.

He raised his eyebrow amusedly and followed Peggy as she began to wander the halls of his home, gasping and commenting at everything in sight.

“I feel the need to cater a large wedding with the size of this kitchen at my disposal.”

“You have an entire library? I’m warning you now that if you ever can’t find me, I’ll probably be here.”

“A pool? And _a hot tub_? As ridiculous as this is, we will be enjoying that during my visit.”

“Do you host people for sleepovers regularly or is there another reason why there’s an obscene amount of guest bedrooms?”

Finally, Peggy made it to the master bedroom, and she gasped dramatically.

“This bed is _huge_!” she squealed before throwing herself on it.

And wasn’t that a sight. Peggy in his bed, her bright glow and turquoise dress a drastic contrast against his black jacket and black silk sheets.

“I was wrong, _this_ is the height of luxury,” she sighed contentedly as her body relaxed into the mattress.

Steve smiled softly and sat down beside her on the bed. Peggy opened her eyes when he began stroking her hair and she gave him a soft smile.

“Hi,” she whispered.

“Hi,” he whispered back. “Can I ask what you think, yet?”

“I love it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes, and not just your bed - even though it is the most comfortable thing in the entirety of the cosmos.”

Steve chuckled.

“Glad to hear that, my goddess.”

"Thank you,” she said softly.

“For what?”

Peggy sat up so she was leaning up on her elbows.

“Thank you for bringing me here. For showing me your Kingdom and your home. It means more to me than you know.”

Steve tucked a curl behind her ear.

“I like having you here,” he admitted quietly.

Peggy grinned and tilted her head up to kiss him softly.

“What would you like to do now, sweetheart?” he murmured when they pulled apart, his lips hardly an inch away from hers.

“I think that you should give me a _proper_ welcome, darling.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Asphodels mean "remembered beyond the tomb" or "my regrets follow you to the grave”. Purple Lilacs represent first love. 
> 
> Also since it’s never explicitly mentioned since it kept ruining the flow of the scene every time I wrote it, if you die and are sent to Elysium, you can choose to be reincarnated instead of spending your afterlife in Elysium. If you reincarnate twice and get into Elysium each of the three times you die, then you can live in the Isles of the Blessed for the rest of your afterlife (which is a step up from Elysium).


	10. Celosia (Boldness)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has mild warnings for discussions of Greek Mythology-typical infidelity (not Steve and Peggy, obviously, but if you're a diehard Tony fan, this might not be the chapter for you).
> 
> Also a fun Greek Mythology anecdote that will become very important later on: if you eat food that was grown in the Underworld, then you become bound to the Underworld for eternity. So unless otherwise explicitly stated, anytime you see Peggy eating food while she's down in the Underworld, it's food that was procured from Olympus.

Steve’s first time waking up with Peggy in his bed was brought about hours earlier than he expected by his phone going off in the middle of the night.

“Only old people keep their phone sound on,” Peggy mumbled grumpily into his chest while Steve aimlessly reached for it.

“I‘m not _that_ old,” Steve grumbled as he finally managed to grab it.

“The fact that you keep your phone sound on even after you go to bed means you’re _ancient_ ,” she told him as he finally managed to answer the call.

“Hello?” he muttered into the phone.

“Stevie.”

“Tony?” he frowned. “What-”

“I need you to come up to Olympus.”

“Why?”

“Pepper just threw me out of the house. _Literally_.”

Steve inhaled slowly.

“Tony… did you cheat on her again?”

“No! Well, yes but did you hear the part where she literally _threw me out of the house?”_

“This might be an extreme opinion, but it sounds like you deserved it.”

“Will you just hurry up and get here?”

Steve sighed deeply. Normally this was the part where he would begrudgingly get dressed and meet Tony on Olympus and spend the next several hours listening while he drank and complained about how unreasonable Pepper was being. He already felt exhausted just thinking about it.

He glanced down at Peggy, who was curled around him, red roses still tangled in her hair. Cerberus was at the end of the bed fast asleep with two of his heads laying on Peggy’s legs, the third one snuggled against her.

“It’s 3am, Tony. Can’t you call Bruce this time?”

“Bruce doesn’t pick up his phone in the middle of the night because he doesn’t leave his ringer on like an old man.”

“You’re not helping your case.”

“But you _always_ come up when Pepper throws me out,” Tony pouted.

“And every time I do, you promise me that you’re never going to cheat on Pepper again, but you _always_ do. You cheat on Pepper every other month, and you always call me when she kicks you out of the house. Then you get shit-faced for weeks or months at a time and I have to babysit you until you decide to make a grand gesture and Pepper takes you back. This has been going on for 1500 years.”

“And it works every time. That’s what makes it such a good system!”

“You have to know that’s not true.”

“Come on, Stevie-”

“No, Tony. I’m not going up to Olympus.”

“ _What?”_

“At least not right now. If Bruce doesn’t pick up, go to one of your four other houses and I’ll meet you there later.”

“You know what? Fine. Ignore me in my time of need.”

“Tony-”

“No, I don’t need you here. Bruce and I will have fun without you. Don’t bother coming up.” 

The line went dead before Steve could respond, and he let out an annoyed groan before tossing his phone on the nightstand.

“You know what else old people do?” Peggy muttered, her voice still muffled by his chest.

Steve looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.

“What?”

“Answer the phone without looking to see who’s calling first. At _3-bloody-am._ ”

Despite the fact that Steve was tired and pissed off at Tony, he cracked a small smile and stroked her hair.

All things considered, it wasn't the worst way to wake up.

* * *

“If you keep stalling any longer, I might start to think that you and Nat are making this Peggy up,” Bucky teased Steve later that morning, leaning further back into his chair.

Steve set his phone down on his desk, ignoring yet another stream of drunken texts from both of his brothers. He had called Tony after breakfast to check in on him, and found that the two of them had already been drinking for hours. After Bruce had taken the phone from Tony, he had gotten Steve to promise to stop by at the end of his work day - even though apparently Tony still hadn’t entirely “forgiven him” for not jumping out of bed to go comfort him for a situation that was entirely his own doing. 

Steve was regretting agreeing to join them more and more with every drunk text they sent.

“Peggy will be here soon,” Steve told Bucky. “She's with Nat right now talking through some of the logistics of Elysium. She’s coming here right after.” 

“So you’re really giving your girl free reign over Elysium already, hey? Things must be getting pretty serious. I thought Elysium was more of a three month anniversary kind of gift, not three weeks.”

“She’s the best person for the job,” he defended. “Regardless of the fact that I’m dating her.”

“But you didn’t deny that things are getting serious,” Bucky pointed out.

“That’s because we are getting serious,” Steve confirmed. “I love her.”

Bucky gave him a strange look.

“So Nat says.”

Before Steve could ask what he meant by that, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened, revealing Peggy holding a tablet.

“Is now a bad time?” she asked, and Steve could see her slightly fidgeting with the long sleeves of her forest green dress.

“Not at all,” he reassured her. “Peggy, meet Bucky.”

“So this is the illustrious Peggy,” Bucky said, immediately standing to greet her.

“Illustrious?” she asked, raising her eyebrow as Bucky took her hand and kissed it.

“Illustrious,” Bucky confirmed. “Steve here won’t shut up about how _wonderful_ and _intelligent_ and _beautiful_ you are.”

Peggy grinned and looked over at Steve before turning back to Bucky.

“Is that so? What else does he say about me?”

“Only good things,” Steve promised. “Now do you mind giving my girl her hand back, Buck?”

“The girl can take her own hand back, thank you very much,” Peggy told him, pulling her hand out of Bucky’s and crossing to Steve, giving him a brief kiss.

“You can just tell me everything else you love about me later,” she whispered to him with a smirk.

“Such a bold display of affection in the workplace,” Bucky gasped dramatically, but even without looking at him Steve could tell he was watching them closely, and it clicked into place what he was doing. 

Even though Bucky was happy for Steve’s recent happiness, he also tended to be extremely protective of him. Especially after his relationship with Lorraine. Bucky didn’t know Peggy like Natasha knew her, which meant he was looking for any potential warning signs that this could end badly.

“Well it’s not my fault my boyfriend is so kissable,” Peggy quipped easily, setting her tablet on Steve’s desk beside his phone.

“Speaking of your kissable boyfriend,” Bucky said as he returned to sit in his chair. “I’ve heard what he thinks about you, but what do you think about him? Just between the two of us.”

“Bucky,” Steve warned.

Peggy raised her eyebrow, but took a seat on the corner of Steve’s desk facing his friend.

“Well if it’s just between the two of us,” she acquiesced.

“I’m right here,” Steve frowned.

“Turnabout, darling,” she reminded him, throwing him a wink over her shoulder.

“I thought you got your turnabout yesterday.”

“Part one was yesterday.”

“I didn’t get a part two.”

“Once Angie inevitably tells you the story about my first time in the Mortal Realm, you will get your part two. Just you wait.”

Steve snorted but leaned back in his chair, motioning for them to continue.

“Now, about my very kissable boyfriend,” Peggy continued primly, looking at Bucky. 

“So now he's _very_ kissable?” Bucky smirked.

“He always has been,” she informed him smugly. “He’s also always been quite brooding and stoic, and it’s hard for him to open up. It can also be difficult to know what’s going on in his head, especially when he gets all quiet and introspective as he tends to do during lulls in conversation. Also I personally think that he needs to put his phone on vibrate if he’s going to continue getting this many notifications at all hours of the day.”

“That’s what I keep telling him, too,” Bucky laughed.

“Well don’t sugarcoat it,” Steve muttered, crossing his arms.

Peggy turned to face him, and Steve was almost surprised to see her smiling so warmly. She glanced at the bouquet of flowers on his desk before meeting his eyes.

“But I love those things about him. Because if he wasn’t stoic or brooding or infuriatingly introspective then he wouldn’t be Steve. When I make him smile or laugh I know that it’s real because he doesn’t do it often. When he tells me about things that I know he’d rather not say aloud it means that he trusts me. And that is something I value more than you know. Everyone on Olympus is so quick to judge him, but they’re wrong. He’s the best person I know… and I love him quite terribly.”

“Really?” Steve said in a quiet, awed voice.

“You can’t be that surprised, darling,” she told him softly, still smiling at him.

Steve matched her smile and reached for her hand while Bucky looked between the two of them for a few moments.

“Okay,” Bucky conceded.

“Okay?” Peggy asked, turning back to him.

“Okay. We’re good.”

“Okay,” Peggy repeated, nodding slightly. "But just so we’re on the same page... I know that you were testing me. And I don’t mind.”

“You don’t?” they both asked.

“Nope,” she grinned, gracefully sliding off the desk. “Because the fact that you’re testing me means that you - an outside party - think Steve is serious enough about me that I might become a permanent part of his life, and you want to protect him in case I’m not who he thinks I am. I can’t be mad at that.”

Bucky raised his eyebrow, a slow smile creeping onto his face. 

“You know what, I like you,” he told her. “For as long as you keep him happy and _smiling_ , that is.”

“Well then I expect we’ll be getting along for a very long time,” she informed him.

“I look forward to it,” he said, giving Steve a genuine smile before standing up. “Now I have to get going, but it was _wonderful_ to meet you, Peggy. We should do this again sometime.”

“ _I_ look forward to it,” she replied with a smirk.

Bucky left with a nod and closed the door behind him. Once he was gone, Peggy walked around the desk and settled herself on Steve’s lap. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her, smiling as she relaxed into him. She matched his smile and brushed his hair away from his forehead before conjuring a few celosia flowers and placing them in his hair so that he matched her own flower crown.

“So,” he said, watching her closely. “A very long time?”

“Well, yes. Unless you have any objections.”

“None from me.”

“Good.”

Peggy cupped his face in her hands and kissed him slowly.

* * *

Steve walked through Elysium early that afternoon, picnic basket in hand. The changes that Peggy had made in the last 24 hours were incredible. The grass underneath his feet was thriving, and there was now intricate and carefully thought out vibrant greenery and plant life surrounding him.

A series of small laughs turned his attention from the scenery. Steve raised his eyebrow and peeked around the apple tree that Peggy had created the day before. The next thing he saw was a whirl of gold and green as Peggy quickly ran through the field, five child souls hot on her heels. 

Steve leaned against the apple tree, and watched with amusement as Peggy’s laugh joined the others.

“You can’t catch me!” she teased them in a sing-song voice as she weaved between the trees she’d grown.

Though Peggy was easily a match for all of them, she eventually allowed herself to be tackled by all the souls who were chasing her. He watched her expertly produce a few vines that safely lowered her and the souls on top of her to the ground, but quickly enough to give the children the satisfaction of victory.

“Alright, alright, you win,” Peggy sighed dramatically, her voice muffled as she moved a small arm that had been covering her mouth. “Flower crowns for all it is.”

Steve couldn’t help but let out a small snort.

Peggy turned her head to him, grinning and waving from where she was still nearly buried underneath the souls. The children, who had also turned to look, gasped and clambered off of Peggy, huddling together behind her, even though she was still half laying on the ground and provided no cover. 

Steve frowned, though he was used to this kind of reaction. For a moment he wondered if keeping the flower crown Peggy made him that morning on his head would have helped any.

“It’s the King of the Underworld,” Sarah whispered.

“There’s no need to be nervous,” Peggy assured them as she stood. “He’s very kind.”

“How do you know?” a seven year old boy asked warily.

“He’s my boyfriend, Jonah,” Peggy answered with a conspiratorial smile.

The kids all gasped loudly at the revelation and began talking over each other, much to Steve’s amusement.

“ _What?”_

“You’re together?”

“Like _together_ together?”

“Then how come we haven’t seen you here before, Peggy?”

“Does that mean you love him?”

“It makes sense. They’re both really pretty.”

Peggy snorted, offering her hand to Sarah. She accepted it and Peggy walked them over to where Steve was still taking in the commotion in front of him.

“Hello, my darling,” she greeted brightly.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he said, leaning down for a quick kiss that earned them more than one noise of disgust. “Having fun?”

“Tons of it,” she grinned. “You remember Sarah, don’t you?”

Steve looked at the little girl and gave her what he hoped was an approachable smile.

“Of course. Hi Sarah.”

Sarah’s eyes widened at the direct address, and she looked from him to Peggy. Peggy squeezed her hand and nodded reassuringly.

“Hi, your Majesty,” she squeaked before hiding her face in Peggy’s leg.

Realizing that that was about as far as the conversation was going to go, Peggy spoke to Sarah and the other children.

“I need to take a break now, but I promise to make all your flower crowns immediately after.” 

The children all frowned, clearly disappointed at having lost their newest friend for a while, but mumbled their assent. Peggy kneeled down and opened her arms. The children each went up to Peggy and hugged her tightly in turn. She repeated her promise to each one, hooking their pinkies together as she did so, and kissed their heads before they ran off.

When they had all left, Peggy smiled brightly at Steve and grabbed his free hand, tugging him down to her level. Steve smiled and went willingly, kissing her properly once he was settled on the ground.

“I’m happy to see you’re making friends,” he teased when they pulled apart.

“I adore them,” Peggy gushed. “They’re the sweetest things ever.”

Steve gave her a soft smile.

“You’re really good with them. It’s nice to see that they at least like one of us.”

“They’ll warm up to you,” she promised. “I’ll make sure of it.”

“Because we should all do as Peggy says?” he said knowingly.

“Now you’re getting it,” she winked before pulling the basket toward herself. “What do we have here?”

“An array of impressive fruits from Olympus courtesy of Angie,” he said. “Paired with a bottle of your favourite ambrosia wine to celebrate your first full day in the Underworld.”

Peggy smiled brightly and kissed his cheek as a thank you. Steve watched her as she pulled out the bottle of wine and hummed appreciatively.

“You’re too good to me, darling.”

“You deserve nothing less, my goddess” he told her with a smirk, leaning over to kiss her neck.

“Oh no, none of that, your Majesty,” she chided. “I plan on enjoying the surprise picnic that my wonderful boyfriend brought me.”

“And what about enjoying your wonderful boyfriend?” he murmured, still kissing her neck.

“You can tell him that if he behaves right now, then I’ll let him fuck me on his throne tomorrow.”

Steve pulled away just enough to watch Peggy pop a grape in her mouth, his eyes darkening.

“My throne?”

“Well we did it on your desk this morning after Bucky left your office, so I figured it’d be the appropriate next step for when we want to try a new location,” she said nonchalantly, continuing to dig through the contents of the basket. 

Steve smirked and leaned over again, nibbling on her earlobe.

“Who knew my girl had such a thing for power dynamics?” he whispered.

Peggy shivered and turned her head to brush her lips against his.

“You have no idea,” she whispered back, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. “But you’ll never find out if you don’t behave.”

Steve watched her with a wicked smile on his face as she playfully shoved him back and focused her attention on pouring the wine for them.

Now he was _really_ regretting agreeing to go see Tony after work today. 

* * *

“There you are,” Bruce cheered when Steve walked into Tony’s second favourite home-away-from-Pepper.

“What took you so long?” Tony slurred loudly. “And why are you still sober?”

“We have to change that,” Bruce announced quickly, dragging Steve along before he could protest.

Two hours later, they were all lounging in the living room. Steve’s tie was undone and his jacket discarded. Tony and Bruce were on their way to being completely shit-faced while Steve was just nearing tipsy. He knew that he had to remain sober enough to take care of them if they passed out or threw up, but still drink just enough alcohol to satisfy his brothers’ wishes.

“This sucks,” Tony said, downing the rest of his drink.

“At least you don’t have kids to worry about every time you fight,” Bruce pointed out, topping off both his and Tony’s glasses.

Tony snorted.

“I’m sure Pepper would _love_ to have kids to worry about.”

“Pepper wants kids?” Steve blurted out before he could stop to think.

“Yeah,” Tony sighed. “Always has. Not that we ever talked about that before we got married.”

“Betty and I talked about kids before we got married, decided we didn’t want them yet,” Bruce said. “It’s an ongoing discussion.”

“What about you, Stevie? Have you talked about kids with your… person?”

“My person?” he asked amusedly.

“You still haven’t told us the gender of the person you’re dating,” Bruce explained.

“Or even admitted that you are dating someone,” Tony interjected.

“And after coming up with an embarrassing number of gender neutral terms for a romantic partner, Tony decided he liked ‘your person’ the best.”

“I’m glad you went with the most creative option.”

“Anyway,” Bruce said, leaning over to pour some more scotch in Steve’s glass. “Back to this mysterious person you’re dating.”

“We’re doing well,” he admitted.

“Well as in the sex is good, or well as in they might be the one?” Bruce asked.

“Those aren’t mutually exclusive,” Steve told him pointedly. “But either way, it’s definitely too early for us to talk about kids.”

“It’s _never_ too early to talk about that,” Tony warned him, leaning forward intently. “Could’ve saved both Pepper and myself a lot of grief if I’d bothered to ask. About kids… about a lot of things.”

Steve stared at Tony for a moment.

“You know, that’s the first time you’ve ever taken some semblance of responsibility for what’s wrong with your marriage,” Steve told him softly.

“Well, it’s been 1500 years,” Tony murmured with a mirthless smile. “It was bound to happen sometime.”

Later that evening, as Steve was tucking a hardly conscious Tony into bed, he made sure to leave a glass of water on the nightstand, along with a pot so he could have something to throw up in if needed. Bruce was already asleep on the couch, having promised that he would continue to stay with Tony so that Steve could go home for the night. Starting tomorrow they would alternate shifts until he was back on his feet.

“Hey Stevie?” Tony mumbled.

“Yeah Tony?”

“You were with your person when I called earlier, huh? That’s why you didn’t want to come babysit me.”

“Yeah,” Steve admitted. “I was.”

“Well, thank you for still showing up today. For always showing up no matter how terrible I am.”

“Tony, you’re my brother. Now matter how much of a philandering jerk you are, I'll always show up,” he told him with a genuine smile.

“You’re an asshole,” Tony muttered, though Steve could see the barest hint of a smile on his mouth.

* * *

“Peggy?” Steve called out when he got home.

“I’m in the kitchen, darling!” he heard her call out. 

Steve smiled and dropped off his jacket and tie on the back of the couch before making his way into the kitchen, where Peggy was chopping cucumbers.

“I made us some stuffed peppers for dinner,” she told him without looking up from her task. “They’re just in the oven, and I’m almost done with the salad here. Now I know it seems like a lot of vegetables for one meal but I’ve seen how much leftover takeout is in your fridge so you have no say in this.”

Steve smiled and came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“How are your brothers doing?”

“About as well as can be expected. Tony will be fine. Every time he bounces back faster.” 

“Good for him.”

“Honestly I’m glad to be home. With you.”

Peggy hummed softly as Steve kissed her temple.

“Glad enough that I can tell you another story about Sarah? Or are you already sick of hearing about her?”

“Not even close,” he smiled.

“Thank goodness because she’s honestly the most darling little thing,” Peggy told him avidly as she moved on to chopping tomatoes. “I have half a mind to adopt that little soul and bring her home with me.”

“You would have already if Sarah was allowed to leave Elysium,” he commented, leaning his cheek against her head.

“That and the fact that Cerberus hasn’t met her yet. We need his approval before we bring a second child into this family.”

Steve tried to suppress his smile at hearing Peggy talk about their life together with such casual certainty.

“Be careful what you wish for,” he told her seriously as she offered him a tomato piece to taste. “If you introduce them he’ll end up liking her more than he likes us.”

“Mmm you’re just still jealous that he’s started cuddling with me at night instead of you,” she teased.

“It happened _once_.”

“it happened last night and you were desolate _all_ morning.”

Steve snorted and pulled back so that he could start gathering the cutlery and plates.

“First of all, you know I was in a bad mood because of Tony. And secondly, Sarah would need to not be terrified of me if we wanted her to live here instead.”

“She’s not terrified of you,” Peggy frowned.

“They all were.”

“Darling, we’ve been over this. All they need is time to warm up to you. After all, we know that they think you’re very pretty so you’re halfway there already.”

Steve snorted.

“Trust me,” she continued. “Besides, this is all hypothetical. We’re not actually bringing her home.”

“But would you want to adopt her if you could?” he asked curiously.

“Steve, you are not going to change the laws of the Underworld for me just because I’ve made a friend.”

Steve watched her closely as she picked up the cutting board with the chopped up tomatoes to slide them into the salad bowl.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“I care about her very much. A surprising amount considering I’ve only just met her,” Peggy admitted, setting down the empty cutting board. “But from what I’ve seen, one of the other residents in Elysium has already become Sarah’s adoptive mother, and I wouldn’t even think of separating them. And with me working there every day it’s not like I’ll never see her.”

“Do you want children?” he blurted out.

She froze for a fraction of a second before turning to look at him.

“I’m sorry?”

“Just something that came up when I was with Bruce and Tony.”

Her eyes widened.

“You talked about us having children with your brothers?”

“No! Of course not. We talked about kids in general and this morning the two of us talked about _a very long time_ and I… do you? Want kids?”

Peggy nodded slowly.

“I do want kids. Not right now of course but definitely someday,” she told him with a steady voice. “Do you?”

“Honestly? I never thought I would have them.”

“Oh.”

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t want them. I do. With the right partner.”

“Oh,” she repeated, the corners of her mouth slowly turning upward in tandem with her shoulders relaxing. “Okay. So… someday?”

Steve mirrored her smile.

“Someday.”

They stared at each other for a few long moments, smiles on both their faces as an understanding passed between them. 

“You should take the peppers out of the oven,” she said finally, her voice soft. “Before they burn.”

“Okay,” he whispered. 

She picked up the salad bowl, and he stared after her as she walked it over to the dining room table while humming softly.

 _Someday_.

Someday suddenly seemed so much sooner than he ever thought possible.


	11. Peach Blossoms (Growth and Permanence)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is deals a bit more with Steve's PTSD (nothing too graphic) and thoughts about the Ten Year War against the Titans. That war is also known as the Titanomachy, which is how it's referred to in this chapter.
> 
> This also fills my first square for the Steggy Bingo Bash: Scars

Steve knew when he went to bed that night that he would have little luck falling and staying asleep.

It didn’t mean that he didn’t try. After all, he had learned from firsthand experience that curling up with Peggy and holding her close was the best, most efficient way to fall asleep. His semi-traitorous dog Cerberus seemingly agreed, having shrunk down to his smallest size so that he could snuggle in Peggy’s arms instead of his.

Still, at 1am, Steve found himself wide awake, unable to quiet his mind.

One hour later he had found little more success. Every time he almost fell asleep he startled himself awake, as though his body was warning him of the nightmares that were sure to come if he drifted off entirely.

At 3am, he gave up trying to even pretend he was going to get any rest tonight, and carefully untangled himself from Peggy’s back, pressing a light kiss to her bare shoulder.

Steve walked to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water, though he didn’t even take a sip. He leaned against a counter and simply held the cold glass in his hands.

From his vantage point he could see the pomegranate-filled vase on their dining room table. It was one of Peggy’s little “home contributions”, as she liked to call them. She had told him that while she appreciated his commitment to maintaining his aesthetic in his clothes and throughout the house, she also thought that he could use some more pops of colour in his life. Steve tried to argue that she was colourful enough, but Peggy was just as stubborn as he was. Now there were a few bowls and vases filled with carefully thought out flowers and preserved fruits spread around the house. While Steve didn’t quite understand them, it was nice to see further evidence of Peggy’s presence in his life down in the Underworld. He’d already grown accustomed to the way his sheets now smelled like honey and pine, the Olympian-grown vegetables in his fridge and the red roses that he kept finding in various rooms.

As long as she didn’t start trying to get him to wear anything other than black or dark grey, he was more than happy that she felt comfortable enough to make herself at home here.

 _Home_.

Steve set down his practically untouched glass of water and wandered into the living room. He picked up the picture of him and his brothers that sat on the mantle of the fireplace. It had been taken during Tony and Pepper’s wedding, only days after the end of the Titanomachy. 

Not even Tony and Bruce’s bright smiles and Steve’s small but genuine one could hide the effects the War had had on them. The gods might have been gifted with extraordinarily rapid healing, but even if they hadn’t all nearly died during the final battle, ten years of nonstop fighting had taken its toll by that point. Aside from the evident exhaustion on all their faces, you could easily see Tony’s black eye and half-busted jaw, Bruce’s cane and leg cast, and the heavy bandages covering Steve’s upper body, underneath his own three piece black suit.

It suddenly struck Steve just how young they had all been.

“Steve?”

He looked up and saw Peggy entering the living room, now wearing her peach silk robe, her arms loosely crossed against her chest.

“You weren’t in bed. Cerbie woke me up,” she told him.

“And here I thought he’d be jumping at the chance to have you all to himself,” Steve muttered. “He’s always been the jealous type.”

She offered him a wry smile.

“If you ask me, I think that he didn’t want you to go through this alone.”

His mouth formed a thin line and he turned away from her.

“It’s the anniversary of the end of the Titanomachy,” she tried again. “That’s why you’re out here, isn’t it?”

As usual, she was right. While the end of the Titanomachy had ended in their favour and was celebrated by most Olympians in such a manner, this day was just another fierce reminder for Steve of everything they almost lost. Everyone that they did lose.

Instead of answering Peggy, he took one last look at the picture in his hands before setting it back down on the mantle. He then walked over to the couch and sat down, staring at the unlit fireplace in front of him. Peggy walked up to him slowly, pausing directly in front of him. Steve trailed his eyes from her hips up to her face, finding that it was filled with concern. He could see her eyes pleading with him not to shut her out.

Steve didn’t know how to tell her that he couldn’t if he tried. That she was already embedded in his heart.

He opened his legs so she could step between them, and pulled her closer by her hips. He wordlessly pressed his forehead against her stomach and closed his eyes, clutching her tightly. He felt her hands run through his hair before they began to rub his bare shoulders and back, providing comfort to every inch of him that they could reach.

“It’s been 1500 years since we won,” he finally said in a low voice. “But we almost lost. Tony, Bruce and I almost died. So many people did die. I still don’t know how we managed to pull it off.”

He could feel Peggy’s arms tighten around him, but she didn’t say a word. He took a deep breath, focusing on the feel of the smooth fabric against his face.

“When I have nightmares they’re always about Thanos, the Titan War. I see people - my _friends_ \- bleeding, dying. I relive all of the pain and torture. Sometimes I wake up and feel like my scars are on fire, just like they felt when I first got them. It’s why I never wear a shirt to bed.”

“Here I thought it was for my benefit,” Peggy teased softly, her fingers stroking his hair.

He pressed a kiss to her stomach, unable to muster even a smile for her.

“Are they burning now?” she whispered after a moment. “Your scars?”

He finally looked up at her and shook his head slightly.

“May I?”

He nodded. Peggy moved one hand to rest directly over his heart while the second one began lightly tracing along the scars on his chest and abdomen. His eyes fluttered shut at her reverent touch as her fingertips lightly kissed their way along his marks. 

Steve used to hate his scars. They only served as a reminder of what Thanos had done to him. With time, he eventually grew indifferent to them.

Now Peggy was slowly teaching him to like them through her own love and adoration of them.

“Thank you,” he breathed out.

“For what, my darling?”

_For coming to find him when Cerberus woke her up._

_For letting him share another dust-covered part of his cracked heart._

_For staying._

Steve gently tugged her down onto his lap, earning him a small squeak from her. He tilted his head up and captured her lips, hoping to pour into this kiss everything he couldn’t quite manage to say at this moment.

“Would you like to go back to bed, my darling?” she whispered when their lips finally parted.

He shook his head, finding her hand that had made its way back home over his heart, and covered it with his own.

“Not yet.”

She offered him a small but warm smile and pressed a gentle kiss to the tip of his nose before guiding his head to rest on her shoulder. He pressed his nose into her neck and wrapped his arms around her waist tightly.

As though sensing that they weren’t planning on coming back to the bedroom any time soon, Cerberus, now having grown to a larger size, trotted into the living room and hopped on the couch, all three of his heads now trying to find space on Peggy’s lap.

Peggy laughed softly as she played with the hairs on the nape of Steve’s neck.

“You’re right,” she said. “He is the jealous type.”

* * *

“How’d it go this morning?” Steve asked Natasha as they both entered the office building in the late morning. He was returning from a Judgement and she was returning from doing rounds about the Realm.

“As well as you could expect. The Isles of the Blessed are just that, the Fields are as miserable as always, the Meadows perfectly normal, and neither Loki or Bucky are reporting any abnormalities with the souls being taken from the Mortal Realm to the Underworld.”

“What about Elysium?” he asked, knowing that there was a very specific reason she had left it out of her initial report.

“Doing just as well as you knew it would now that it’s under Peggy’s care,” Nat said smugly as she handed Steve her tablet. “She’s already more than halfway done revamping all of the general scenery and communal areas and she’ll be moving on to Phase 2 before the end of the week.”

Steve flipped through the various pictures on the tablet, unable to help the warmth that was blooming in his chest at seeing the results of Peggy’s hard work already coming together.

“It’ll take her at least a couple of months since she’s updating every single soul’s garden,” Nat continued. “But she’s dead set on having individual meetings with every resident so that she can then personalize their garden not only their tastes but also ‘who they are as a person’. Whatever that means.”

“She’s very thorough,” he said proudly, though more subdued than usual. 

“Alright don’t get all sentimental on me now,” Nat teased.

“It’s not my fault my girlfriend is incredible,” he quipped, handing her tablet back to her.

Nat snorted and shook her head slightly as they entered his office. Immediately, Steve noticed an arrangement of pink roses, hydrangeas, and statice on his desk.

He didn’t have to ask who sent it.

“You know, I saw Peggy talking to Loki this morning when I was doing the rounds,” Natasha said, turning his attention back to her.

“One that he was participating in?”

“ _Actively_ participating in.”

“Huh.”

Nat stepped forward, a mischievous smirk on her face.

“If you ask me-”

“Which I’m not,” he clarified, a bit firmer than was necessary.

“That’s as good as - if not better than - a stamp of approval from him.”

“Because between you, Bucky and Loki, he’s the one whose opinion means most to me,” Steve said flatly.

“I’m just saying that no one here would complain if she spends more time down here after this week,” she said as she leaned against his desk and gestured toward his new flower arrangement in a manner that Steve knew meant she had charmed the flowers to preserve them. “Peggy included.”

“She tell you that?”

“You both did when you offered her a job her first day here and she accepted it and created almost a months-long plan within the following 24 hours. And when you didn’t bat an eye when I told you she’d be working down here for that long. She likes it down here, and you like having her down here too.”

“Of course I do,” he said easily, arranging the new bouquet of flowers to sit next to the assortment he already had. “You want to tell me why you’re still smirking?”

“Just that it’s the anniversary of one of the worst days of your life and you’re nowhere near as moody as you normally are. I mean you’re not a ray of sunshine but you haven’t snapped at me yet for teasing you which is a miracle in and of itself.”

“You’re enjoying this way too much.”

“We’ve known each other for centuries, Steve. I’m allowed to enjoy your happiness with no ulterior motive.”

“That remains to be seen,” he said as he nudged her off his desk. “And just for the record, you can stop drilling your point home every five minutes. I’m all in. And so is Peggy. We don’t need any divine intervention from anyone.”

Natasha’s answer was cut off by his phone ringing. He gave her a meaningful look and she winked before sauntering out of his office.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he said after picking up.

“Oh you checked the caller ID first before answering. I’m so proud of you, darling.”

“I figured I should at least try to keep up with you.”

“How thoughtful of you.”

“I aim to please.”

“And you do it so wonderfully,” she informed him. After a beat, she continued in a softer voice. “How are you doing?”

“I’ve just been told that I’m ‘nowhere near as moody than I normally am’.”

“Natasha?”

“Natasha,” he confirmed. He glanced at his desk, almost able to form a smile. “Thank you for the flowers. They’re really nice.”

“We thought you could use a little pick me up.”

“We?”

“Sarah’s been spending time with me this morning while I fix up Elysium. When I took a short break to make your flowers and have them sent your way, she told me they looked perfect and hoped they would cheer you up. Which, I might add, means that she is most certainly warming up to you.”

Steve snorted.

“Are you coming here for lunch?” Peggy asked.

“Actually…” he began, leaning against his desk. “I think I need to be alone. Just because I’m ‘not as moody’ this year doesn’t mean I’m entirely okay. I won’t be much good to you right now.”

“I understand, my darling.”

His shoulders sagged slightly in relief.

“I’m seeing Tony and Bruce after work,” he reminded her. “I won’t make it home in time for dinner but I’ll see you at home.”

“Alright, love. Call if you need anything.”

Steve glanced once more at his newest bouquet of flowers.

“I will, sweetheart.”

* * *

Steve met Tony and Bruce at Thessaly late that afternoon, all of them in their mortal forms.

Without saying a word, Bruce pulled out three glasses while Tony pulled out a bottle of bourbon. Bruce handed Steve an empty glass, then Tony began filling them up.

After he was done pouring, Tony put the bottle away and Bruce handed Tony his glass.

They all raised their glasses in unison.

“To those we lost,” Steve began quietly.

“Those that stood by our side,” Bruce continued.

“And to never forgetting,” Tony finished.

They clinked their glasses together and took a long, silent drink.

“1500 years,” Bruce said in a low voice after they had all emptied the contents of their glasses. “Can you believe it’s been that long?”

“We’re getting old,” Steve sighed.

“Speak for yourself. Besides, you’ve always been old,” Tony retorted.

Steve rolled his eyes and stared at the horizon as the sky began changing to night. Honestly, Steve couldn’t blame Tony for his attitude. Besides the fact that he and Pepper were still fighting, this day tended to bring out all of their ugliest memories and emotions. It was why he’d tried to keep some distance between him and Peggy today.

“This day really makes you think about everything. At least I do,” Bruce said, once again breaking the silence. “How close we came to losing. How much has changed, how much hasn’t.”

“Like how Steve manages to get grumpier every year.”

“And how much more you get on my nerves every year,” Steve said dryly.

“Case in point,” Bruce smirked. “This day sucks, but at least I know I’ll always have you knuckleheads.”

Tony refilled all their glasses and tipped his in their direction.

“In that case,” he said. “Here’s to us.”

They all stayed drinking together hours after the bottle was finished, not another word passed between.

* * *

When Steve came home late that night he found Peggy in the living room, sound asleep in a pile of pillows and blankets in front of the lit fireplace, Cerberus curled around her protectively. Steve’s heart swelled at the sight, especially when he noticed that Peggy was wearing one of his sweaters. 

During their silent drinking the last few hours, Steve had thought long and hard about Bruce’s words. His life, on paper, was largely the same. The only true change since last year was Peggy.

But she had changed everything.

A year ago he wouldn’t have thought he would want anyone sharing his space, especially today of all days. He could never trust anyone with the weight that this day held for him, and truthfully, he hadn’t wanted to. Even when he was with Lorraine he’d kept his distance from her on every anniversary of the Titanomachy that had occurred while they were together. 

Now, coming home to Peggy having made a nest in the living room, he wanted nothing more than to join her, hold her close and fall asleep knowing he was safe in her arms.

And that’s exactly what he intended to do.

He admired both Peggy and Cerberus for a few moments as he shrugged off all of his clothes except for his boxers. Steve carefully slid into the pile of blankets on Peggy’s other side, causing Cerberus to stir and make small, displeased noises. 

“You’re late,” Peggy mumbled before Steve could quiet his dog. “We tried waiting up for you.”

Despite Cerberus’ protests and attempts to keep her right where she was, Peggy managed to scoot over closer to Steve. 

“Drinks took longer than I thought,” he murmured, resting his head on her chest and throwing his arm over her waist, reaching over briefly to pat one of Cerberus’ heads. 

One of Peggy’s hands immediately began stroking his hair, her other arm wrapping around his shoulders and holding him close. Steve sighed softly as he felt his body relax in her hold and pressed a kiss to her clavicle. Cerberus, clearly miffed that he was no longer the center of attention, whined softly before curling up at their feet and attempting to fall asleep again.

“There’s leftover lasagna in the fridge if you’re hungry.”

“No need,” he assured Peggy, curling up closer for good measure.

“Good, because I’m bloody freezing, and you’re very cozy.”

He snorted.

“It probably doesn’t help that you’re not wearing pants.”

“Are you seriously complaining that I’m currently wearing nothing _but_ your sweater?” she teased, maneuvering one of his legs in-between both of hers.

“Not at all, sweetheart. Black suits you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, and he could practically hear her smirk.

“You’re going to use that against me, aren’t you?”

“Of course,” she grinned, and he felt her press a kiss to his hair. “Can I ask how the rest of your day was?”

Steve lifted his head to look up at Peggy. Her face was bathed in the soft, warm light from the fire. His breath hitched at the pure love in her eyes.

“What matters is that I got to come home to this,” he told her honestly.

“Your half-asleep girlfriend demanding cuddles?”

Cerberus let out a small yip and pointedly laid one of his heads on top of her foot.

“Alright,” she conceded. “ _Both_ of us demanding cuddles.”

“Best thing to come home to,” he promised, smiling softly at her. 

“Hey. You smiled,” she said, her eyes lighting up as she cupped his cheek. “I’ve missed that smile.”

“It’s only been a day.”

“I suppose I took for granted how often I make you smile,” she said sheepishly as he turned his head to kiss her palm.

“This day is hard for me,” he told her. “But believe me, you haven’t lost your ability to make me smile. I just needed time.”

“I know. I just wish there was more I could do to help.”

“You’ve done more than you know,” he whispered. “Trust me.”

Peggy tilted her head and kissed him so tenderly that his heart momentarily stopped. 

“Sleep now, my darling,” she whispered, playing with the hairs at the nape of his neck. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

He nodded and laid his head back on her chest. Between being held by Peggy and the emotional exhaustion of the day, it didn’t take long for him to feel his eyelids grow heavy. As he drifted off to the feeling of love and the sound of Peggy and Cerberus’ even breathing, realization slowly washed over him.

Steve wanted to share with Peggy the last part of him that he’d been keeping close to this chest.

If she agreed, Steve was going to take Peggy to see Tartarus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pink roses mean appreciation and admiration, hydrangeas mean gratitude and sincerely heartfelt emotions, and one of the less common meanings of statice is success, so Peggy's essentially trying to tell Steve that she sincerely appreciates him and admires his strength. It's also to remind him of the good that comes from the anniversary of the end of the Titanomachy.

**Author's Note:**

> Calla lilies represent beauty, so really Steve didn't stand a chance either way. Since it's never explicitly mentioned, I imagine Steve to exclusively wear all black suits.
> 
> Also before anyone asks, I haven't read Lore Olympus yet. I have a friend that keeps bugging me about it, but I want to finish writing this first. It looks cool, though all I know about it is that she's pink and he's blue.
> 
> All my love to Darcy!


End file.
